Yamato Nadeshiko is a Cinderella
by Papilio.Ageha
Summary: She finds life is exhausting by being tied with family tradition and having to protect a cross-dressing little brother. As if it wasn't complicated enough, a certain punk ended up learning her brother's secret because of her own carelessness. ZaizenxOC. On hiatus.
1. Ch1: It All Start Here

**Hi, this is EcstaticPetenshi! For those who've never read my stories before, nice to meet you. For those who knows me and are expecting this story, sorry for the wait. Anyhow, I hope all of you will enjoy this brand new story!**

**Thank you for those who've voted on my poll, I really appreciate it. It's so funny to find out that it ends with a draw: 6 votes for NiouxOC and 5+1 votes for ZaizenxOC. I decided to write this one first because Zaizen needs more love. (I hope he'll be also playable in the upcoming Dokisaba Love Passion DS just like Kenya.)**

**Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis, its characters, and Shitenhouji don't belong to me. They're Konomi-sensei's. I only own the OCs here.**

**Sorry for grammar errors and typos.

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**Yamato Nadeshiko is a Cinderella**

**Ch1: Prologue - It All Start Here**

"Naa, Tsubasa-chan, come with us this once."

It was a pleasing afternoon in Shitenhouji Junior High. The weather was so good, such a perfect day to leisure. That was what some of the 2nd grade boy students. They would prefer to hit on some girls and hang out rather than go to the club. They were, at the moment, trying to convince one of the most popular girls in class to go out with them.

"Sorry I can't. I still have club activities after this." The girl called Tsubasa replied.

"It's okay to skip the club once in a while right?" Said one of the boys.

The others nods. "Yeah, pretty please?"

Tsubasa sighed. These boys were really persistent, weren't they?

"C'mon, Tsubasa-chan…" One of them grabbed her hand.

"Wait, let g-"

"Let her go you insolent fools!" A girl yelled as she approached the group of 2nd graders.

"Crap! It's the sister complex!"

"Bad timing. Let's go."

"Later, Tsubasa-chan."

The boys walked away in fast pace leaving the sisters. It was too bad that they had to give up the chance to go out with Tsubasa, but the older girl, who had just yelled angrily at them, was really a pain in their ass. She never let any boy go out with her sister. That was why people called her a sister complex.

"Thank you, Tsubaki-neesan." Tsubasa hugged her sister who was only 1 year apart from her.

Both of the girls had almost identical face, they were sisters after all. The only differences were Tsubasa had longer hair and was taller than her sister. She was in fact taller than any girls at her age and looked like a model; this was one of the reasons why she was so popular among the boys.

Tsubaki frowned. "Geez, boys these days… They're just really stupid and perverted. Make sure that you won't become like them once you turn back into a boy."

"Yes, ma'am~" Tsubasa giggled hearing how _her_ sister sounded like an old lady.

There was a reason why Tsubaki never let any boy approach her _sister: _Tsubasa was actually a boy.

The siblings Yamato Tsubaki and Yamato Tsubasa came from a very traditional family. To protect the only heir of the family from catastrophe, he should be raised as a girl until the age of fifteen. In other hand, the daughter of the family bore a special duty to protect her _sister_'s secret.

Everything had been easy for Tsubaki until Tsubasa attended junior high. He became popular and started to attract the boys, this made him constantly hit by them. She just couldn't let these boys lay a finger on him.

It was not like she hated all boys, it was just most of the boys who liked to hit on girls were perverted and ill-mannered. She couldn't let her guard down, what if they did something _bad_ to Tsubasa? It wouldn't only endanger his secret, but would also psychologically hurt him.

"Seems that you're thinking too much again, nee-san…" He said as he watched her frowning and drowning deep in her thought.

She looked at him and patted his head. "I just don't want something bad happened to you, after all you're my precious little brother."

"Just don't overdo yourself, okay? I am really happy that you're really concern about me though." He smiled.

She smiled back. His smile never failed to light her up. Perhaps this was also one of the reasons why everyone in school liked him so much.

"Ah, by the way, my class is going to swimming pool this weekend." He said sheepishly. "What should I do?"

"Swimming pool? That's a big NO! They'll easily find out that you're a boy with those swimming wear!" She snapped. "Damn those filthy boys, it must be their idea!"

"Calm down, nee-san. If you shout like that someone might hear our-"

Wondering why he stopped talking, she looked the direction he was looking at. She froze. Not far from where they were talking, there was a guy looking back at them with a face that was as surprised as the siblings'. It was obvious that he had overheard what she had just said.

She recognized him. Black hair, earrings and tennis bag, it was the infamous 2nd year punk Zaizen Hikaru.

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**Sorry for the very short chapter. I just wanna put the family background and how Tsubaki met Zaizen how. **

**About the OCs, the main character here is Tsubaki (obviously). Tsubasa will also have important role here though.  
**

**About the idea… There is already a lot of cross-dressing female OCs here so I try to make a cross-dressing male OC. The setting with traditional family that made the sons dressed as girls is quite common in mangas though (especially the shoujo ones) I'll try my best not to make this story typical and boring!  
**

**Hope you like this short chapter/prologue. Please review! ConCrits are always welcomed.**


	2. Ch2: Book's Cover

**Hi there, sorry for not updating. I'm really busy these days with university and everything. I hope you don't mind waiting because I don't think I can update regularly once a week anymore.**

**Thank you for those who reviewed the first chapter! I'm glad hearing (reading) your positive reaction toward it. Hope you all will also like this chapter!**

**BTW, I got the idea about cross-dressing tradition from a side story of an old manga entitled W-Pinch. :D  
**

**Disclaimer: Konomi Takeshi owns the Prince of Tennis and its characters. I only own the OCs.**

**Sorry for bad grammar and typo!

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**Ch2: Book's Cover**

Zaizen and the siblings only looked at each other in silence.

The older Yamato, Tsubaki, started sweating as he gave no further reaction and kept staring blankly at her and Tsubasa.

Zaizen opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but then he shut it again, seemed that he wasn't quite sure what to say. He thought again for a while and finally spoke.

"Let's pretend that I didn't hear anything." He said in flat tone.

* * *

Tsubaki was screwed, she was really screwed. She had thrown herself and her precious brother in a big trouble. A secret was meant to be kept, but she had let it slipped out her mouth and told the world about it _loudly_ because of her short tempered nature… not to mention that the person who found out (accidentally heard) about it wasn't a good person at all.

That rude boy, Zaizen Hikaru… Back then he had just walked away and said nothing to explain what he had meant.

_Let's pretend that I didn't hear anything_.

It was no way for someone like him to simply let this matter go and forget anything he had heard yesterday.

She had heard a lot of bad rumors about him. He got really bad manners and didn't show any respect to others at all, even to the teachers. People said that he had started fights with other boys and was disliked by some of the 3rd graders because of his rude behavior. He also had made a lot of girls cry.

She sighed. Why him? Why must him the one who overheard Tsubasa's secret? She didn't have any idea what that boy would do to her precious brother. Would he used the secret as blackmail material, or would he tell everyone about it?

Not only Tsubasa and herself, her family would also be completely humiliated if people learned about their secret. People would think that the heir of Yamato household was abnormal and liked to cross-dressing. (Gosh, it wasn't a hobby or liking, it was a must in the family!) Thinking about the worst probability that would happen to her family made her shudder.

'Don't be weak, Tsubaki!' She said to herself and slapped her own cheeks softly to pump up her courage.

She should do something! Right, there was no way she would let Zaizen do anything bad!

"What are you doing, Yamato?"

She snapped out of her thought as someone asked her. She looked up at her kendo captain. "Well, uhm, nothing…"

"Don't tell me, you're thinking about your sick sister." The other girl raised a brow skeptically.

Tsubaki could only grin sheepishly in reply. It's no way she could tell anyone else about Zaizen and her little secret, not even to her club captain. It was a problem she should solve by herself.

Anyway, she had solved the other problem earlier: making Tsubasa pretending to be sick home so that he had an excuse not to go to the pool this weekend. At least this could decrease the probability of his secret being revealed to public.

"I just want to remind you not to space out during practice. I'll assign you laps if you do it again." said the captain.

Tsubaki quickly stood up and bowed in apologize. "I'm really sorry, Hayakashi-taichou. I promise it won't happen again."

"Good," Hayakashi Sanae nodded.

"By the way, how do you know that my sister is absent today?"

"You know, your sister is quite popular even among the senior sear," Sanae replied. "The guys in my class were talking about her during the class."

Tsubaki gulped. Could it be that _the guys_ Sanae was talking about were from the tennis club Zaizen belonged to? "R- Really? What else they were talking about?"

Sanae shrugged. "Dunno. I didn't really listen to them back then. Why?"

"Nn, just asking. Well then, excuse me. I gotta go for a while." Tsubaki quickly took her school uniform and run exiting the dojo.

"Wait! Where are you going? It's still practice time!"

She could hear Sanae's shouting even from outside. She was sure that she would get punishment for leaving the practice, but alas she still had something important to do.

If she wasn't wrong, Zaizen was quite close to the 3rd year guys in tennis club. She might be acting kinda paranoid, but what if… _what if_ he had told them about Tsubasa's secret?

* * *

After changing her clothing back into school uniform, Tsubaki rushed to the tennis court. It was still practice time so all the tennis club member including a certain boy named Zaizen should be still there. Soon she arrived in front of a huge wooden door that led to tennis club's isolated courts.

Yes, _isolated._

It meant that the outsider couldn't go inside the courts. No one could watch any club activity (practices, matches, etc.) either because of the tall brick walls that were built around the courts and clubhouse.

What should she do now? How could she look for him while she couldn't even enter the court? For now, she could only wait for him till the practice ended, or perhaps until he in one and another way left the club. She could only hope that it wouldn't take long…

And it didn't really take that long…

"What are you doing here? Do you have something to do with our club?" Someone asked.

She turned around to see a blonde in yellow and green jersey, who had just asked her out of curiosity. "Sort of... I have a business with one of your club members."

"Do you want me to call him? Just tell me his name." Kenya offered.

She shook her head. "No, thanks. I'd prefer to wait for him till the practice ended." She knew he wasn't really a bad guy type she hated, but still, he was quite close to that Zaizen guy. If Zaizen had really told his teammates about Tsubasa's secret, Kenya should be one among those guys whom he told.

"Well then, if you said so." Kenya shrugged and sipped some juice from a can he was holding.

She looked carefully at any movement he made. So far he didn't do anything strange nor talk anything about Tsubasa. Strange, if he had heard about the secret he would have mocked her about it. Did that mean he knew nothing about it?

"Why don't you go inside?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for Zaizen. We went to buy juice together, however he really took his time in walking and left behind. Once I got here, I realized that someone might ask why I come back alone or where did he go and that will be quite troublesome to explain so I decided to wait for him here." He explained.

"Wait, did you just said Zai-"

"Ah, finally! Here he is!" He exclaimed. "Why did you take it so loooooooong! God, I almost die waiting for your slow feet!" He said approaching a younger boy with short spiky black hair that was just some meters away.

"It's you who walk too fast, beside, I never asked you to wait for me." Zaizen reply sarcastically and earned a smack right on his head. He then spotted her near the club's gate. "Ah."

She gritted her teeth when their eyes met. She walked in fast pace toward him and grabbed his arm. "We need to talk." She dragged him away with her, leaving a half-surprised-half-curious Kenya behind.

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"Wait, senpai, where're we going?"

"Didn't I say that we need to talk?" Tsubaki hissed, releasing Zaizen's arm as both of them arrived at a deserted part of school ground covered by trees, where no one would see or hear them.

"Make it quick, I still have practice." he said.

She twitched. This brat, trying to play innocent, huh? He should have known what she was going to talk about yet he acted like he knew nothing.

"About what you heard yesterday…" She began.

"Oh, about that. I told you to pretend like I heard nothing, didn't I?" He replied dryly then walked away. "Is that all you wanna say? I'm leaving then."

"Wait! It's a big secret about my brother's life. How the hell can I believe that you'll tell nobody about it?" Her words made him stop and turn to her. His face looked slightly offended.

"Why will I tell anybody about that? What will I gain by leaking his oh-so-big –secret? None, right? None. I don't even hold a grudge toward him."

"Still, I can't believe someone like you," she continued. "Someone ill-mannered and-"

Suddenly he smacked a tree behind her, pinning her toward it. "I really hate annoying people who judge everything only by the cover. Stop pestering me and get some life, otherwise I might change my mind and ended up screwing your little brother's life." He said in cold tone.

Seeing that the girl in front of him wouldn't say anything to protest, he stepped back and left quietly.

She felt her legs lost their powers to support her body weight and fell down to the ground. "What was that? How could he…"

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**A little longer chapter that the previous one. Aw, Zaizen is so scary! I'm sorry if he's OOC. **

**Tsubaki's personality is kinda difficult. She hates most of the boys and always thinks badly about them. On the other hand, Zaizen is easily judged as a bad boy because of his rebellious acts and appearance (especially those colorful earrings). **

**A new OC! (a cameo, if you read my other story, though she is a minor character there) I think Tsubaki need a friend to talk to, though she can't share her biggest secret.**

**Tsubaki joined kendo club because she needs powers to 'protect' Tsubasa. (and personally I think kendo is also a quite traditional sport/martial art and suits her well)**

**And look at our *coughs* lil' curious and innocent Kenya XD Aw, I'm so sorry I didn't have time to write him a birthday fic :(  
**

**Hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think. ConCrits are always welcome.**


	3. Ch3: Cooling Down

**Hey there! Somehow I managed to write this chapter on time *cough*by ignoring my homeworks*coughcough***

**The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi-sensei. So do the characters, especially Zaizen.**

**Sorry for my bad English and/or typos. **

**Hope you'll like this short chapter :)**

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**Ch3: Cooling Down**

The sun shone brightly on the clear sky. It was still the beginning of summer, but the temperature was already hot enough to knock some people out. No one could resist not swimming in the large body of cool water in front of them. Well, no one except Tsubaki, who sat not far from the pool and was half-heartedly watching over a group of 2 graders fooling around in the pool.

Why she was here? Good question. Her plan of making Tsubasa skip her class activity hadn't gone smoothly; his classmates still managed to make him joined them. She sighed. Oh well, at least they didn't force him to wear swimsuit. They let him sit back and watch them swimming from the poolside.

But still, she couldn't let her guard down. They might do something unpredictable.

She lazily rested her chin onto a table in front of him. Sometimes she found doing this thing was heart-sickening. She had a bad habit of thinking the worst possibilities of any case. She knew that it was not nice to always think badly of people around her. However, Tsubasa's secret was really important for her family. It was her responsibility to protect it.

That Zaizen. His words back then still echoed in her head. Just like he said, she might be one of those annoying people who like to judge a book only by its cover. It couldn't be helped though, who wouldn't think that he was a bad guy? His manner, the way he talk, the earrings… plus bad gossip about him.

Anyhow, she didn't dare to talk to him again ever since. It was hard to admit, but he had been really scary back then. As far as she knew, he hadn't leaked the secret to anyone. She could only wish he would keep his mouth shut till the world ended.

"Spying on your brother again?" she heard a male voice. The voice was quite familiar but couldn't remember where she heard it. Maybe she heard it in school. Well, since there were some of her juniors here, it might belong to one of them. Some of them must have just passed near her and she accidentally overheard their loud conversation.

Wait, what did he mean by _spying_?

It took some time for her to realize that the person was alone and it was her whom he was talking to.

She turned around to find the certain person that stood right behind her. A tall guy in plain black swimming trunks casually sipping drinks from a bottle. His sunglasses covered her eyes, but she could still recognize him nevertheless.

"Zaizen?" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

The said guy just simply pointed the group of 2nd grader across the pool instead of answering her question.

Her mouth shaped an o as she learned that he attended the same class as Tsubasa.

"Then, why aren't you with them?" she changed the question.

"Just bought some cold drinks." he simply said.

She raised a brow. "Oh, I see…"

She didn't expect he would still talked to her after what happened some days ago. He even talked and acted like nothing had gone wrong between them.

"I was just curious who would be stupid enough to wear long sleeves shirt and a pair of long jeans in summer." He added.

She twitched hearing his somewhat rude statement. "Pardon me; a girl shouldn't expose too much skin."

"You sound like the olds."

She decided not to talk to him anymore and looked away, letting a gap of silence growing between them. After a while, he left without saying anything.

She let out a long sighed and rested her head again on the table. What's with that rude behavior? He only made her mood worse. He didn't even show respect to her, who was older than him. What was wrong with her clothing? It was none of his business.

Was he trying to pick a fight with her?

How could he dare to say that she sounded like the olds? She was only one year apart from him. Well, she did want him to show a little respect to her because she was older, but she was not _that_ old.

"So hot." She growled.

"That's why you shouldn't wear that kind of clothing, stupid senpai."

"Huh?"

She flinched a cold thing touch her head. She quickly looked up and found him holding a different bottle of drinks he had been drinking before.

"Here," He handed her the bottle, which she received with a puzzled look. "Cool yourself down. It'll be silly if you get a heat stroke."

He turned and walked away, leaving Tsubaki who was still confused about what was going on.

She stared at the bottle. It was still sealed. Had he just bought it? Had he left before to buy it? Had he bought it... for her?

He was unexpectedly kind, wasn't he?

She looked at him and watched his back as he walked to join his friends. Suddenly she felt her cheeks burning.

She cursed herself.

That was so silly. Had she just thought that he had been hot?

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**Hope you like it though it's quite short. **

**Yeah, Zaizen is actually a very kind boy. *pats Zaizen's head* He's a kind boy though he is kinda rude to the others. *pats his head again and received a glare***

**Please review! Concrits are always welcome! **

**Also, please tell me if you find Zaizen goes OOC or Tsubaki turns into a sue.**

**Thanks!**


	4. Ch4: Zaizen?

**Long time no see, Minna-san! It's been… let's see, two months? *nervous grins* Sorry for my extremely slow update *bows***

**Disclaimer: the Prince of Tennis and its characters belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei.**

**Sorry for bad English and typos. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)**

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**Ch4: Zaizen?**

"Zaizen?"

That was Sanae's, the captain of kendo club, first reaction hearing Tsubaki's question about her opinion on a certain guy.

Tsubaki bit her lips as she waited for Sanae's answer. She knew Sanae would find it strange as she asked her about Zaizen out of nowhere.

_Why Zaizen of all people?_

_What about him?_

_Why is she asking about him?_

Even though Tsubaki knew Sanae would think like that, she still had to ask her as Sanae was one of a few people that could objectively judge him. She was already tired of the typical answers she would get from her other friends. It would be either _he's hot_ or _he's a badass_ or probably both of them _a hot badass_.

Sanae crossed her arms then began. "I don't know why you're asking me about this, but sorry I can't answer. I don't know him well and I think I can't judge him based on what people say about him."

"I see." Tsubaki sighed hearing the unsatisfying answer. Sanae was right. No matter how objective Sanae was, she couldn't give any fair judgment if she barely knew him.

Sanae raised a brow. It was rare for Tsubaki to ask about a guy. The Tsubaki she knew was someone who was always concern about her dear sister and had no time to think about boys. "Is it about your sister?"

"Sort of." Tsubaki answered shortly. She couldn't tell the captain the real story, but it was more or less related to Tsubasa.

"Why don't you ask people that know him better? The tennis regular perhaps?" Sanae suggested.

Tsubaki shook her head. "No, I don't think boys are trustable."

Sanae sweatdropped. Geez, Tsubaki, this girl always thought that boys were bad. She really wanted to knock some sense in her head that there were also a lot of good guys. Wait, why did Tsubaki ever consider about Zaizen then? Shouldn't he be easily judged as a typical bad boy? Well, Sanae couldn't help wondering why.

"There's a friend of mine that knows the tennis boys quite well. Maybe she can help you."

"Really?" Tsubaki's eyes became sparkly upon hearing Sanae's last statements.

Both of them left the dojo after telling the vice captain that they were going somewhere for a while. Actually they shouldn't left before the practice ended, but Tsubaki's excitement and Sanae's curiosity made them do so.

After what had happened in the pool some days ago, Tsubaki had been thinking about that Zaizen boy. Her inner self kept questioning whether he was a good person or not, should she entrust Tsubasa's secret to him or not, and what she should do from now.

"Here we are." Sanae stated as she stopped in front of a large wooden door.

Tsubaki looked up and just as she saw _boys' tennis club _written on a nameplate beside the door, the sparkles in her eyes disappear.

"Wait a second; you said the person is a she, didn't you?" She frowned and turned to Sanae, demanding an explanation from her captain.

Sanae smirked; she knew Tsubaki's reaction would be like that once she found out that they had been heading to this place. "Who says that there're only boys here." She then stepped forward and knocked on the door. After waiting for a while, someone opened the gate.

"Hayakashi?" The boy who opened the door looked at her in surprised. "It's rare to see you here. What's the matter?"

"Sorry for interrupting your practice, Oshitari-kun. Can we speak to your manager for a while?" She said, gesturing to Tsubaki.

Kenya looked at her and Tsubaki, whom he had just recognized. "Sure, I think Shiraishi and Osamu-chan won't mind either. Come in."

Both of the girls stepped in and closed the door behind. Though this club looked very enormous from the outside because of the high walls that enveloped it, it looked pretty normal inside. None of the boys seemed affected by their presence. Kenya himself had dashed to a nearby court and continued his double practice with Zaizen, Koharu and Yuuji.

"Hayakashi-san?"

Tsubaki looked around to see the only female residence in the club. Most likely she was the one Sanae had been referring too.

"Sorry for the disturbance. There's something my friend wanna ask to you." Sanae explained to the girl.

"The name is Yamato Tsubaki." Tsubaki quickly introduce herself.

"Nice to meet you, Yamato-san. I'm Oshitari Kouki." The girl named Kouki said with a bow.

"Nice to meet you too," Tsubaki bowed back.

"So, what do you want from me?" Kouki asked.

"Well," Tsubaki began, somehow she felt uncertain whether she should ask the girl she had just met or not. "I just wanna ask you about…"

Kouki tilted her head. "Yes?"

Tsubaki made a quick glance at Sanae and Sanae replied with a stare, as if telling to make it quick since they still had practice. "Say, Oshitari-san, what do you think about year 2 Zaizen?"

"Zaizen?" Kouki exclaimed, just like Sanae did in the past. Tsubaki wondered if her question was_ that_ surprising.

"Oh, sorry." Kouki covered her lips and looked around, fearing that she had distracted the boys from their practice. She then sighed in relief after learning that her voice wasn't too loud to gain everyone attention. "Why Zaizen?" She asked back.

"Uh, I have some personal issues." Tsubaki shrugged.

"Well then," Kouki tipped her chin and started to think. "My opinion on Zaizen, right? The main problem he has is lack of respect. He also has foul language and sharp tongue. He often calls the others stupid or idiot."

"What a great personality he has." Tsubaki commented.

Kouki chuckled. "However, he's not a bad person at all. Although sometimes he gets misunderstood by the others because of his attitude, he's actually kind at heart."

Tsubaki went silent after hearing the last words. 'Is that true?' She asked to herself, looking to Zaizen's direction.

* * *

"…-san? Nee-san? Onee-san! "

Tsubaki snapped from her thought and quickly turned to her brother, who had been calling her for several times. "Wha-? What's it?"

Tsubasa pouted. "Geez, you don't even listening to me."

"I'm sorry, Tsubasa. I just have… something in my mind. What did you say again?" She smiled sheepishly.

"I'm asking about your supplementary class. There's one on the day after, right? Do you want me to wait for you till the class ends or should I go home first?" He huffed.

"Ah, I haven't thought about that yet." Tsubaki scratched her head. "This area is kinda dangerous, so…"

"Yo, cuties~" Suddenly a group of local high schoolers approached.

"…So it's no way I would ask you to go home alone." She finished, rolling her eyes as the bad guys appeared around her and Tsubasa one by one.

"Going home now? How about going out with us instead?" said one of the guys.

"No, thank you. I'd rather die." She replied dryly. "Let's go, Tsubasa."

"Aw, don't be so cold."

"Hey, I like her boldness."

"Really? I prefer the tall one. She's like a model."

Tsubaki sighed. This was why she needed to learn kendo. Sometimes beating stupid guys like them with a shinai (bamboo sword) was the best resolution to get out from this kind of situation. Getting ready to attack, she took her shinai which she usual carry on her should-

Wait! Where was her shinai?

She mentally facepalmed. She must have left it in the school's dojo! Stupid her!

Now, what should she do without any weapon?

The guy with biggest body among those guys suddenly grabbed Tsubasa's arm. "I like her. She's mine."

"Don't ever dare to touch my sister, you big ugly gorilla!" She shouted.

The big guy released Tsubasa. He turned to Tsubaki and pulled her by the collar. "What? What did you call me just now?"

"I…" She tried to speak up but she lost her voice. He was even bigger than gorilla from her current point of view. She hated to admit it but she was scared now.

"She called you 'big ugly gorilla', gorilla. I wonder if you're deaf or just plainly stupid."

_The main problem he has is lack of respect. He also has foul language and sharp tongue. He often calls the others stupid or idiot._

"How dare you!" The gorilla guy pushed her away onto the ground as he turned to attack the black haired boy. He was about to punched him right on the face when the boy spoke up again.

"The police station is just a block away from here, you know?"

_However, he's not a bad person at all._

"Che!"

The gang decided to retreat upon hearing the annoying boy's words. They knew it would be troublesome if the policemen found them beating up a middle schooler, besides, they were still in their uniform.

"Don't think it's over yet, brat!" They shouted then walked away.

The black haired boy then turned to her. With his usual bored face, he put off his headphones, revealing 5 colorful earrings.

"Really, senpai. You should've used your brain a little before talking. You might get killed someday because of your careless mouth."

_Although sometimes he gets misunderstood by the others because of his attitude…_

Zaizen then bent down and offer her a hand.

"Are you okay?"

_He's actually kind at heart_

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**And that's what Kouki said XD**

**Oh right, for those who've read my other stories **_**Aruhi no Oshitari: Red Chrysanthemum**_** and **_**Aruhi no Oshitari: Kiss? Wait! What!, **_**you might have recognized her. Yep, she's the same Kouki-chan from AnO series. Hehe, I like using the same OC in different stories. Sanae is also originally from that story :)**

**This chapter is kinda random, but at least Tsubaki-chan finally believes that our dear Zaizen is really a good person.**

**What do you think about this chapter? Love it? Hate it? Please share your opinion in the review :3**

**Hona mata!**

**(btw I just realized that the control panel had changed! XD)  
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	5. Ch5: A Box Wrapped in White

**Hi everyone! This is the fifth chapter! Gah, I'm having an epic stomachache right now X(**

**Disclaimer: Konomi-sensei owns everything here but the OCs and romantic plot.**

**Sorry for bad English, grammatical error and/or typo.**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

**Ch5: A Box Warped in White**

The next morning was very beautiful, especially after Tsubaki had her resolution. Doing her daily household tasks, she started working in the kitchen. She and Tsubasa lived separated from their parents. They moved to Osaka carrying out the family tradition, this way no one in their hometown knew about Tsubasa's living as a girl and also no one in Osaka knew his true identity. Since they had move into a small apartment, Tsubaki was in charge of preparing their meal, including bento. Usually she woke up at half past five in the morning, but today was different. She woke up a bit earlier and prepared more food than usual for some reasons.

After putting in some decoration made of cucumbers and carrots, she finished two boxes of bento in front of her. She smiled in content seeing her works. It had been a while since she worked so hard on bento.

"These look tasty," Tsubasa commented as he enter the kitchen and took a slice of rolled egg she cooked for breakfast. "What's with this unusual luxurious bento? Is there any celebration or something?"

"No, not really. I just accidentally woke up earlier today thus I have more time to cook." She replied. She closed the bentos then warped them in furoshiki clothes with different colors: the white one was her while the pink one was his.

He was about to note how her bento portion was about double from the usual, but she had already moved to a nearby table and prepared it for the breakfast. He shrugged as he decided to forget about it then helped her bringing rice bowls and chopsticks to the table.

* * *

"That's all for today." An almost bald teacher announced as the lunch break bell rang. He then took his thick English books from the table then walked outside leaving class 2-7, which was now full of euphoric atmosphere.

"Tsubasa-chan, let's eat bento outside." Tsubasa's seatmate offered. She stood up carrying her bento.

Tsubasa nodded and took his own bento. His seatmate then asked the other girls to join them. After about 4 or 5 more girls accepting the offer, they proceeded to the door. Tsubasa was about to exit the class when something caught his attention.

"Wow, it's rare to see you having bento." said one boy that stood near the door. His hair was highlighted in bright red; on his wrists, people could see some metal accessories.

A boy sat right in front of the first boy, calmly untied white furoshiki clothes that warped a bento in his hand. "My mother just accidentally woke up earlier today, so she had more time to cook me one." He explained nonchalantly.

"Hee, I didn't know that Zaizen Hikaru is a momma's boy." Another boy with blue-dyed locks teased.

"Shut up." Zaizen glared at his friends, who were now laughing at him.

The two boys in front of him weren't really affected with the glare; instead they started examining his bento. "Anyway, this looks like a hell of good bento."

Zaizen decided not to bother his friends' comments anymore, whatever they said, and started eating. The boys then bid goodbye to him as they were going to the cafeteria to buy some sandwiches. At that point, he finally looked up and watched his friends passed the exit door. There, he also saw Tsubasa, who seemed to had been watching him for a quite some time.

"Tsubasa-chan? What's wrong?" One of the girls asked as the saw Tsubasa standing still at the door.

Tsubasa quickly turned to her friends and shook his head. "Nothing. Shall we go now?" He then walked away with his friends. They talked about a lot of thing during the lunch time, but he couldn't follow them as a single question kept echoing in his head.

_How could that Zaizen guy have his sister bento?_

* * *

It was in the middle of afternoon practice. After asking for permission to the captain, Zaizen left the tennis club for a while and met a certain someone that was waiting for him in front of the club gate.

"Yo, Zaizen-kun," called Tsubaki. "Sorry for interrupting your practice again."

"No problem." He replied. He carried her bento box in his left hand while the other hand touched his nape. He then handed it to her.

How did he have her bento? Well, everything had happened in the morning.

**[flashback]**

It was 7:20 and Zaizen was walking sleepily to the tennis club for morning practice when he saw a familiar girl was standing near the tennis club entrance.

The short haired girl noticed him and greeted. "Morning, Zaizen-kun."

"Sup." He replied back casually despite she was older than him.

"Can we talk for a while?" Tsubaki asked.

He raised a brow. The last time they had had a talk hadn't ended well. Actually it had been very bad. They had a fight and he had almost smacked her right on the face. It wasn't a good thing to remember and now he felt rather uneasy of how he had been too short-tempered back then.

Anyway he could tell that she was somehow different from before.

"Sure."

"I..," she began. She became tense and her cheeks slowly turned pink. She looked down, didn't have enough courage to look right to his eyes. "I haven't properly thanked you for your help yesterday." She then bowed deeply, making her bangs cover most of her face.

That was unexpected. Even someone like him almost lost his words in surprised. "That was only because those guys were really annoying to see. I didn't really intend to-"

"I also said something very bad to you the other day. I'm really sorry about that." She continued.

It was very weird to have a girl bowing in front of him. He scratched his head, first he should make her stop. "Senpai, please straighten your back. Someone might see us."

She quickly stood back in proper position. He was right, someone might saw them. She would die in embarrassment if someone really did.

"Well, actually I don't really care about what happened back then. I also did bad thing to you so there's no need to apologize."

She looked up at him. A part of her was relief that he weren't angry at her while another part felt guilty because she had selfishly thought bad of him.

"Ah, speaking of which, I have something for you." She opened her bag and search for something. Once she found it, she took it out then offered it in front of him, a box warped in white, one of the bentos she had made earlier. "Here, as my apology for the bad thing I said to you."

He looked at her, then the neatly warped bento, then to her again. "Senpai, didn't I tell you that you don't need to apologize."

"Still, I want you to accept this. Please consider about it, at least it could save some of your allowance from buying lunch today." She said again.

He watched her closely for a while. How the heck she knew that he didn't have his own bento…

"Fine," he sighed and took the bento from her hand. "However, I don't buy you giving this only for apologizing, Senpai. There's something else, right?"

Zaizen Hikaru, he didn't bear his _genius_ title for nothing. Well, anybody beside him would also felt suspicious if she insisted to give something.

"_You see, actually I have a request…"_

**[end of flashback]**

"So, how was it? The taste I mean." Tsubaki asked as she held the empty bento box tight onto her chest.

"There were some bitter parts of fish that I dislike." He answered monotonously.

"I see."

He could see her pulled a face. Resisting his chuckled, he turned back then said, "Make sure that next time you remove those parts."

She looked at his back in disbelief. He said _next time_; was that mean he didn't mind eating her cooking again? Her smile grew only by thinking of it.

"What's your favorite food then? I'll put it _next time_."

"Shiratama zenzai."

"Eeh? That's no way I can put it in bento box!"

* * *

**From this point onward, there'll be some fluff. Not much though, because both of them are rather tsundere. Gosh, I think they'll end up as **_**another**_** silly couple. **

**What's her request to him? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter!**

**Thank you for your time reading. I hope you'll look forward to the next chapter. Don't forget to review! Concrits are always welcome :)**

side note: I recently start writing another story in MAR (Marchen Awakens Romance / MAR-Heaven) fandom. Please read it in case you know that manga/anime. Thank you :D


	6. Ch6: Our Way Home

**Hi there! Sorry for the long wait. The short semester has started and I also have another story to update so... yeah… I hope I can update regularly from now on, about once per two weeks, I guess?**

**Disclaimer: I own neither the Prince of Tennis nor its characters.**

**Sorry for any grammatical error and/or typo. Enjoy! :)**

* * *

**Ch6: Our Way Home**

It was a fine afternoon on the next day. Most of the students in Shitenhouji were preparing to go home as the club activities had just ended. Usually, the second year ace player Zaizen Hikaru went home straight after the afternoon practice ended, however today was different. After saying goodbye to his teammates, he went back to the school building. He went to the third floor, where the other clubs but sports ones took place. He walked across the corridor and stopped in front of a club room. Leaning against the wall opposite to the door, he waited until club activity in that room ended.

Some of the students there looked at him. It was strange to find him there. The girls started whispering to each other, wondering what one of the tennis club's hot guys were doing. He looked like he was waiting for someone. Whom was he waiting for then?

Ignoring people around him, Zaizen put on his headphones and listened to his favorite songs. After around ten minutes, the club finally ended. The door was opened and some students went out. A long haired _girl _was chatting with her friends when she caught a glance of him. She frowned as he stared back blankly at her.

"Tsubasa-chan~" Two boys approached Tsubasa as he walked out his club room.

Tsubasa looked at them, mentally rolled his eyes as he had known what would come next. "Yes?"

"Let us walk you home." The first boy said.

"We heard that your sister is taking supplementary class." The other added. Both of them grinned ear to ear as they were very happy that the sister complex senior wouldn't interfere their attempt to flirt the cute_ girl _in front of them.

Tsubasa tried his best to resist an urge to facepalm. He smiled to them and sweetly declined the offer. "Sorry guys, but today I'm going home with him." He walked past the two boys and faced the black haired guy. "Let's go, Zaizen-kun." He then took Zaizen's hand and dragged him.

Students looked at them with widened eyes. It was unbelievable. It was true that they were classmates, but they weren't close at all as they had their own worlds and friends. It was the first time they were seen together outside school task.

No one could object though, as they looked so good together… Or so people thought…

* * *

After both of the second years were quite far from the school, Tsubasa quickly released Zaizen's hand and wiped his hand to the skirt with disgusted face. He also took a step aside to create space between them.

"Listen, it's not like wanna do this." He said while throwing a glare to the guy beside him.

Zaizen touched his nape and replied. "I don't wanna do this either. If it's not for senpai's request…"

**[Zaizen's flashback]**

"_You see, actually I have a request…"_

Zaizen looked at Tsubaki, waiting for the senior to continue speaking. She became so nervous. She bit her lips and played with her nails but said nothing for the time being. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn't know _how_ to say it. Why on earth was his stare that scary? It made her even tenser.

Anyway, if she didn't start speaking now, he would get bored of waiting and said…

"Senpai, what exactly do you want to say?"

…or something like that.

She took a deep breath. "Zaizen-kun… Can you… Can you escort Tsubasa home tomorrow?"

"Wha?" He blinked. Was he only hearing thing?

She clapped her hands in front of her face. "Please, just this once. I have a supplementary class tomorrow and I can't let him go home alone."

"But-"

"I'm afraid yesterday's bad guys will hit on him again. Pretty please, Zaizen-kun? You're the only one I can turn to after all."

He sighed. To think that Tsubasa was actually a guy like him. Why did she put so much effort in protecting that cross-dressing boy?

"Fine…"

**[End of flashback]**

"I don't care if you're either a boy or a girl. You should be able to, at least, go home on your own." Zaizen said sarcastically.

Tsubasa's eyebrows twitched. This guy was very annoying! Why did his sister even tried to put them together?

**[Tsubasa's flashback]**

It was a peaceful breakfast when suddenly Tsubaki informed him unexpected news. He nearly broke the bow he was holding when she said that today he would go home with Zaizen, the guy he disliked so much.

"What? What do you say?"

"I say you're going home with Zaizen-kun today." She repeated calmly as it was nothing.

"But why?" He asked again, still didn't want to believe her sister's saying.

"Well, I can't go home with you because of the supplementary class. That's why I asked Zaizen-kun to escort you home in my place." She explained matter of factly.

"But… But… Why him? Why Zaizen of all people?"

"Because he's the only one who knows your secret thus he's the only one I can ask for help to."

He frowned hearing her answer. He couldn't say_ no_ to her, no matter how much he disliked her idea.

"_Beside, he's actually a good person. Why don't you try to befriend with him?"_

**[End of flashback]**

Befriend with Zaizen? That was absurd! Why would he befriend with someone like him? Tsubasa couldn't understand what her point was.

Right, Tsubaki herself had changed. Why did she suddenly get along well with Zaizen? How could she think that highly of him?

"I can go home by myself!" Tsubasa replied in anger. He fastened his walking pace. After a while, he stopped and looked back with annoyed look. Zaizen was still there, walking casually behind him. "Why are you following me?"

"It can't be helped. My house is in the same direction as yours."

* * *

"That's for today." A woman said in front of the class. She gathered books on a teacher's table and proceed leaving the class, where some third year students were literally dying.

"Yamada-sensei is so evil." Tsubaki whined as she leaned her chin onto her desk. Piles of homework were laid in front of her. If she didn't finish them correctly in two days time, she would have to attend another supplementary class. Geez, this was very irritating. It didn't only take her half of her time to dinner; it also made her have to skip some kendo practice.

Her seatmate stretched her body. She also had the same sulking face as Tsubaki. "That was very tiring, wasn't it?" She said as she pushed her round glasses up to their proper position.

Tsubaki shrugged. "Let's go home, Chie. It's late already." She stuffed her books and stationery into her bag then stood up.

The girl called Chie did the same thing and they walked exiting the class. Another girl with long pig tail joined them in the corridor. Her name was Kanna. Just like Chie, she was Tsubaki's classmate, though she took different subjects in supplementary class. Both of the girls were quite close to Tsubaki as they had been attending the same class since their first year. Personally, Tsubaki felt comfortable hanging out with them, though she couldn't tell them her family's secret.

It was already dark when they arrived at the school gate. Tsubaki then said goodbye to her friends as their homes were in different direction. She watched their backs as they walked away. Now she couldn't help but feel slightly lonely. She disliked going home alone in the evening. Usually she went back with Tsubasa when the sun was still high in the sky. Blame the stupid supplementary class. Oh well, maybe it was also her fault for not being able to pass the last mathematics and English tests with good marks.

Anyway, for now, she wished she would be lucky enough not to meet the bad guys from yesterday. She could still remember them; they had been just like a group of monkeys, with a gorilla as the boss, who had escaped from a nearby zoo. She smirked mischievously as she imagined a random zookeeper might mistake those guys as real primates.

She was so busy with her wild imagination that she failed to notice that a certain someone had been standing behind her.

After her friends were out of her sight, she turned around and… almost shrieked in surprise when a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Z- Zaizen-kun!" She sputtered after she realized who the person was. "You scared me!"

"I didn't mean to. For your information, I've been here for a quite some time. It's your fault for not noticing." He replied nonchalantly as usual.

She made a face. She knew she couldn't argue so she decided to change the topic. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing in particular."

"…"

"…"

"You were waiting?"

He didn't answer her question. Instead, he started walking. He finally opened his mouth when he was already some meters away from her. Without looking back, he said. "Well, if you prefer to walk home alone…"

She quickly caught him up and walked beside him. She felt her cheeks burned as blood slowly crept into her face. She could just hope that the lack of light in this evening could cover her blush.

It was too bad that she didn't dare to look up at him. If only she had had enough courage to do so, she might have seen that his cheeks also turned slightly pink.

* * *

**Okay, **_**this**_** Zaizen is so cute that makes me wanna bite him! *_***

**So, what do we have now? Zaizen's and Tsubasa's bad relationship and introduction of Tsubaki's friends… LOL I just realized that I forgot to name the boys' friends back then in the previous chapter XD**

**I hope the tennis regulars will appear soon. I miss writing about their randomness. Let's see… Maybe in another 2 chapters? OxO**

**Thank you for reading. Please drop a review! Concrits are always welcomed!**


	7. Ch7: Private Tutor

**I said I would update this story once per two weeks but… Forget it! The more reviews I got, the faster I update XD I prioritize story that gets more reviews, since my other story (sadly) hasn't gotten any review till now I decided to update this fic first.**

**Thanks for reading this story till this far. It's seventh chapter already :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own either Tenipuri or its characters. The OCs, plots and characters developments belong to me though. **

**Sorry for bad English and typo.**

* * *

**Ch7: Private Tutor**

Ever since the day Tsubaki had made Zaizen escort Tsubasa home, her brother kept whining. It seemed that something had happened between the two boys. She was really curious about it. She wanted to know about it, but she couldn't. Every time she tried to ask him, he always made a face from only hearing her mentioned Zaizen's name.

Tsubaki leaned her cheek on her palm and sighed. Maybe putting those two together wasn't a good idea. At first she had thought they could be good friends, as Zaizen was the only one who knew that Tsubasa's true identity. She had thought it would have been nice if Tsubasa had a friend that saw him as a boy.

Continuously tapping her pen onto one of the tables in library, she gazed on a math book before her. Her teacher, Yamada-sensei, had given her extra homework during the previous supplementary class. If she didn't finish it correctly, she would have to attend another supplementary class in the future. It would be really troublesome. She would not only lose her free time, but also have to miss her club activity. Sanae would be angry if she didn't show up in kendo practice again, no matter what excuse she used.

It couldn't be help. The only way to avoid the supplementary class was by studying more diligently and finishing her piling homework.

Right now, she was _diligently_ using her lunch break to finish some of the homework in the library. She frowned looking at another difficult problem she couldn't understand. Geez, she really wished she could enjoy her lunch break like her friends outside instead of having a sort of date with math books in a place where people rarely visited to.

She was really absorbed in her thought that she didn't realize someone else was also in the library. She finally noticed his present when he approached her and stood right next to her.

"Zaizen-kun! What are you doing here?" She asked in surprise. Of course she wouldn't have been that surprised if she had known that Zaizen had been there from the beginning. Note that this was her second time failing to notice that he was around…

"I'm part of the library committee." He explained shortly.

Her mouth formed an 'o' shape. She had thought he had been a type of person who didn't bother to join any committee (just like herself). Then again, she found that library committee suited him better than any other committee like the broadcasting or health care ones. Anyway, that was the end of their conversation. She didn't know what to say so she tried to concentrate on her homework again, or at least, she tried to_ pretend _concentrating on it. It was quite hard to think clearly when she had his stare drilling through her head.

He watched her looked back at her book and frowned. Were third year's subjects that hard? He had never thought about it since his seniors looked like they had no problem with school. To think again, even he hated to admit it, most of them were sort of brilliant students e.g. Shiraishi, Kenya, and (uh) Koharu.

Out of boredom, he took one of her books on the table which happened to be her English book. She noticed it and looked up at him. She bit her lower lips as she saw he frowned reading the book.

"This is horrible," He commented. "The grammar, vocabulary, even preposition… You basically mess up with everything."

"No one ask your opinion." She snatched her book back. Indeed, English was one of her worst subjects, but she didn't need a second grader's comment. "Don't talk as if you understand about it. You haven't even learned about it yet."

"Well, about that…" He crossed his arms and started explaining. His explanation was very long and detailed. She could only look at him in awe as if he had been a living English dictionary. Her head had gone blank when he finished with a cocky '_how's that'_ smirk.

"Aaa… Zaizen-kun," She said after recovering from shock and regaining her voice back. "What about substituting me in the upcoming test?"

"I refuse."

"I'll make you a bento again."

"That'll cost more than bento portion for a whole year."

"Then, what about shiratama zenzai?"

"No need."

"Che, Zaizen-kun you stingy!"

"I guess I am… Anyway, have fun with the supplementary class."

She pouted. What's with that _have fun_ part? Did he just wish for her taking another supplementary class? "I don't wanna attend that supplementary class." She murmured.

He raised a brow hearing her statement. "Is it _that_ bad?"

"Yes, it _is_, and it makes me unable to go home with Tsubasa." She took her pen and started scribing randomly on the last page of her note book. She drew Yamada-sensei's face and gave a big cross on it. Next to it, she wrote _Yamada the Evil._

He leaned his back onto a bookshelf behind him and sighed. "That guy again… He's old enough to take care of himself."

"But he dresses as a girl." She replied, still working on her hateful doodle. She had just added pair of devil horn on the teacher's head.

"Even _a real girl_ can take care of herself." He contravened.

She stopped drawing, unconsciously tightening her grip to the pen. She took a deep breath then said, "Still, it's my duty to protect him. You know, he cross-dresses as a girl not because he wants to. Our family's tradition forces him to. Every single member of the family has to obey the rules no matter what."

"That's absurd," Zaizen commented. He stopped for a while then added. "Don't tell me you're doing this because of that what-so-called tradition too."

She shook her head and then smiled to him. "Of course no. I do this because I simply love him. He's my only brother after all."

He didn't say anything again in reply. After a quite some time watching her doing nothing than silently ranting on her teacher, he gazed on her books then straightened his back and walked away.

She blinked in confused as he disappeared behind bookshelves. Why did he left like that? Had she said something strange? She shrugged. That guy was really mysterious. She didn't understand him, his acts and the way he thought.

'Nah, forget about it, you need to concentrate on your study!' She reminded herself and turned to the table. Not only she still have unfinished math homework, she also had to redo the English one. She looked down at her note book and sighed.

It seemed that those boys really had bad relationship. Zaizen had also looked irritated when she had mentioned Tsubasa's name. What exactly had happened back then when they got home together? Had their relationship been that bad from the very beginning?

Oh great, now she was distracted again…

She pinched her own cheek. 'Concentrate, Tsubaki! Concentrate!'

"What… exactly are you doing, Senpai?"

She looked up upon hearing the question and suddenly she found Zaizen was there again. He put some thick books, including English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries, on the table and sat down on a chair opposite to her. He then took her English book and flipped through the pages.

"You know it's obviously impossible for me to substitute you during your English test…"

Really, she didn't understand him, his acts and the way he thought. However, one thing she knew, studying at the library during the lunch break wasn't a really bad idea at all.

* * *

**Does this mean he willingly helps her studying? You guess~ XD**

**I know this chapter is too short. At first I wanted to add another **_**scene **_**but I changed my mind because I thought it would be strange. Trust me; it's much better like this though, again, it was too short. ^^;**

**Anyway, I'm very sorry if you find him OOC.**

**Please review! We all know that reviews are every writer's #1 writing mood booster! Concrits are always welcomed!**


	8. Ch8: An Invitation

**Hi there! Long time no see~ Miss me? |D**

**Here I bring the eight chapter. Enjoy~ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tenipuri, but I solemnly swear one day I'll steal it from Konomi-sensei just like Niou stole Kabaji from Atobe XD LOL JK I think I'm sugar high atm**

**Sorry for bad English, I think I need to find a beta.**

* * *

**Ch8: An Invitation**

It was another lunch break several days later in Shitenhouji Chuu. Most of the tennis team regulars and its manager gathered in the captain's class, 3-2. Shiraishi had asked them to visit his class during the break to discuss the upcoming club activity. He and Kenya sat on their respective seats while the rest surrounded their tables. Some sat on nearby chairs and the others just stood there.

"In my opinion, having the first years to help Kouki-san is enough." Koishikawa said as they were talking about a certain problem.

Crossing his arms, Chitose shook his head. "No, I don't think we can count on them. Those boys are still too immature and I'm afraid they can do nothing but destroying the whole kitchen."

"We need more girls," Kenya stated, then he looked at his cousin Kouki who stood beside him. "How about asking one or two of your friends to lend a hand?"

"I tried to, but they already had their own plans for the holiday." She replied.

Shiraishi scratched his head and sighed. "This's quite troublesome. The camp starts tomorrow but we're still understaffed. Do any of you have a friend you could ask for help?"

The boys looked at each other. Kenya, Gin, Chitose, Koishikawa, Yuuji, Koharu, (clueless) Kintarou… None of them answered. It seemed that no one had.

Wait, somebody was missing!

"Where's Hikaru?"

"Now you mention it…"

* * *

"That's how it is." Zaizen said as he tapped his mechanic pencil onto Tsubaki's book.

She clapped her hands and exclaimed cheerfully. "I understand now. Thanks Zaizen-kun!"

He rested his head on his palm as he watched she finished the last question for today's English homework. Since their encounter in the library, he had always visited her during the lunch break and helped her with English. Thanked to him, not only she could do her homework correctly, she also got better marks on tests lately.

She softly hummed. Her English homework was done. She closed her English book and put it aside. She then took the other book which was her Math book. After several minutes, her smile was replaced by a frown.

Indeed, she was better at English now, however she was still suck at math.

"If only you could also do this for me~" She twirled her pen.

He raised a brow and smirked. "Well, I_ can_ do that if you want."

She looked up from her book, skeptically stared at him. "Have you ever learned about this?"

"Nope." He answered shortly.

"Then you'll only ruin everything."

"I'm not saying I _can_ do that _correctly_, aren't I?" He replied matter of factly, the mischief smirk was still plastered on his face.

She pouted. He was teasing her!

"Oi, Zaizen!" Suddenly they heard the door opened and a boy walked in.

"Kenya-senpai? What's wrong?" Zaizen asked the other boy.

Kenya approached the table where Tsubaki and the second year were and huffed. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?"

"Meaning?"

"The regulars meeting in my class!"

Zaizen blinked. "I forgot."

Kenya grunted as he heard the junior's nonchalant answer. He then noticed that she was also there and looked at her opened book on the table. "What's that?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Autumn holiday's homework from Yamada-sensei." She explained.

"Oh, I've heard about that. People said she gave extra homework for those who take supplementary class."

"Yeah..," She fumed, pointing at the questions with her pen. "But I don't understand any of them."

He bent down a little then read one of the questions. He took a pencil on the table then write down. "Well, if you use this equation here…" He started explaining.

She watched him finishing the hard question. She was amazed, how could he do that so easily?

"That's it," He said after he was done with the question. "Do you understand?"

"Uh, I'm not really sure…" She answered as she read over it.

"Try using the same equation for the next question. I think they are similar." He suggested.

She nodded then did what he told to her. Though he couldn't do it as fast as him, finally she found the right answer.

"I think I understand now." She smiled contently seeing her work. Good, at least she could answer one out of ten questions.

"How can you be so good in math?" She asked after he had helped her with other two or three questions.

He just laughed in reply and twirled the pencil he was holding. "Oh right, speaking of which, I have some good math books. I can lend them to you if you want."

"Really? That'll be great."

Suddenly Zaizen stood up. Both she and Kenya looked at him in confuse. Without saying anything, he walked away and left the library.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked.

Kenya just stared at the chair where his junior had sat on a moment ago then grinned.

_Could it be…?_

He turned to her and replied. "Don't worry. It's nothing, really. By the way, do you have any plan for tomorrow onward?"

* * *

"What? Training camp?"

Tsubasa's eyes widened. What? Was he hearing things? He still didn't believe what his sister had just said. To be exact, actually he _didn't want_ to believe.

"Yep," Tsubaki nodded. "Kenya-kun asked me to help his team. He also said that you could come along."

"B- but, Nee-san, are you sure?" He stuttered. "It's all boys!"

"You don't have to worry about them. I know some of them, like Shiraishi-kun and Ishida-san, and they are really nice." She replied calmly.

"…"

"Besides, Zaizen-kun will also be there…"

Tsubasa frowned as he heard her mentioned that name. "Do as you want." He said quietly then went to his room. Closing the door, he leaned to it.

_You've changed, Nee-san._

* * *

The next day, the Yamato siblings went to school even though the autumn holiday had started. They walked together to the tennis court. There, they saw the tennis team members in yellow, green and white waiting for them in front of the club entrance.

"Oh you're here!" Kenya exclaimed as he noticed the girls' coming. His shout gained everyone's attention.

Shiraishi approached the sisters and greeted them. "Thanks for coming."

Tsubaki smiled to him and then turned to the other. "I'm Yamato Tsubaki from 3-5. Nice to meet you all."

"Yamato Tsubasa, 2-7." Tsubasa followed.

The boys greeted them back. Some of them also cheered because Tsubasa was there.

When she was chatting with some of the regulars and Kouki, she suddenly heard a loud voice speaking. Wondering what was happening, she looked at the direction where the voice came from and found coach Osamu and Zaizen. It seemed that the second year regular was late.

After half-heartedly hearing Osamu's lecture, Zaizen joined the regulars. He was surprised when Tsubaki greeted him.

"Why are you here?"

"Kenya-kun invited us to your training camp." She explained.

He glanced at the said senior.

"I see…"

* * *

**What's wrong with Zaizen? Well, we'll find it out in the next chapter! ^^**

**Just a little explanation, the autumn holiday takes place from October 5 to October 10.**

**Happy belated birthday, Zaizen. For those who haven't read it, I wrote a birthday fic for him.**

**I also start writing a new NiouxOCs story. It's entitled Lustrous White Martini. Please check it out! (I also put a poll on my profile regarding that story.)**

**For Aruhi no Oshitari's fans, there's also an one-shots collection fic called **_**AnO: Crazy Little Things Called**_** Love which I'll update once in a while.**

**That's all. Don't forget to drop a review ne~**


	9. Ch9: Heartbeats

**Hello~ Sorry for the wait. I bet most of you have been waiting for the training camp. ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.**

**Special thanks to my lovely beta reader ChiyakoChan :)**

**Warning: Tennis ball and bears and ****a little fluff**~  


* * *

**Ch9: Heartbeats**

Most people thought the cool mountain air was really great and refreshing, especially if they lived in a big, hot city like Osaka. That was what the Shitenhouji Tennis Club members felt when they arrived at their training location. Their bus stopped in front of a large lodge. Kintarou dashed out the bus once its doors opened.

"This is great~" He exclaimed. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the way the fresh air filled his lungs.

"Kin-chan, please be careful." Shiraishi warned the youngest regular as he got off the bus, followed by the others.

"Look, Koharu, that's our love nest!" Yuuji said, hand-in-hand with his boyfriend.

Koharu squealed. "Aw, Yuu-kun~" Both of them then emitted an unpleasant lovey-dovey aura.

"Disgusting." Someone commented.

Everyone looked at the one who had just said that, some of them were surprised because it was no other than the supposed-to-be-a-lovely-girl Tsubasa.

"Tsubasa!" Tsubaki called him in disapproval. She then looked at the couple and apologized. "Sorry about her."

"It's perfectly fine." Koharu chuckled. "We're used to it, right, Yuu-kun?"

Yuuji nodded and grinned at her. "It's okay, it's okay."

"Anyway, that was unexpected." Chitose commented.

Koishikawa who stood beside him agreed. "Yeah, that supposed to be Zaizen's line, wasn't it?"

The guys laughed at his statement. She quickly glanced at Zaizen. He was just as nonchalant as usual. He seemed not affected by everybody else and kept typing on his cell phone. Was he always that ignorant to the others? She didn't know nor had any idea about it. She just felt he was awfully silent today and she found it very uncomfortable.

"Well then, everyone, let's get started!" Osamu clapped his hands to gain their attention. "The rooms are assigned based on your grade. I'll sleep with the third years and the girls will get their own room. Now, put your belongings in and warm up by running around the mountain!"

"Yes, sir!" The boys answered in unison and ran into the lodge. After placing their bags in their respective room and changing into tennis uniforms, they ran outside and started the warm-ups the coach had assigned.

"Be careful, the path is slippery," Osamu shouted to them. "Oh, and there might be bears!"

"B- Bears?" Kouki widened her eyes.

"Great, I hope one of them will get attacked." Tsubasa commented coldly.

Tsubaki sighed. "Tsubasa…"

"No need to worry. Men are way scarier than bears… If you understand what I mean." He hummed. "Let's start working, shall we? The courts ought to be ready before they come back."

* * *

Osamu told the girls to go the lodge's backyard. There, they found several old courts. They started cleaning and set the nets. It should have been the freshmen's duty; however they were all gone because he had told them to join the seniors. After he brought three baskets full of tennis balls, everything was ready.

"I predict they will have arrived by now." He looked at his watch. It had been an hour and half since the boys started running.

"They're here!" Kouki said, pointing at a dirt path in a nearby forest.

Tsubaki looked at the direction where the other girl was pointing. She then could see some yellow figures approaching. The figures cleared once they were close enough. The first one was Kintarou, then Kenya, followed by the other regulars.

"I win! I beat Kenya!" Kintarou cheered as he arrived at the court.

"Don't get so worked up, Kiddo. That's because I wasn't running at my full speed." Kenya replied.

Kouki giggled as she approached the two. She handed them towels and water. "Good job."

Tsubaki followed Kouki's example and started to distribute towels and water to the rest. Though Tsubasa looked reluctant to do so, he eventually joined the girls.

"Here, Zaizen-kun." Tsubaki said as she gave him a bottled water and towel.

He glanced at her for a mere second then took them without saying anything.

It wasn't just her imagination, he _was _awfully silent today. Was he angry to her? Had she done something wrong? Had she offended him in some way?

"What is it like, running in the forest?" She tried to ask him, but he didn't reply. He didn't even look at her and kept himself busy by drying his sweaty hair with the towel. Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance. She didn't know what was wrong with him, but couldn't he at least pay a little attention and answer when he was being asked?

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm down. She stared as his back. Right, it was Zaizen Hikaru who was standing in front of her.

She decided to give another shot. "Watanabe-sensei said that there were bears. Is that true?"

Five seconds… Ten seconds… Fifteen seconds… Negative.

That's it!

She looked at a basket of tennis balls which happened to be only one feet away from her. Without a second thought, she took one of the balls and threw it to him. The ball graciously hit him on the head.

He yelped as a hard round thing collided with his skull. Stroking the aching spot, he quickly turned around. He glared at her. "What the hell are you doing!"

She looked away and crossed her arms. "That's your fault for not paying attention."

"And you think it's a proper way to gain someone's attention?" He snorted.

"Well, at least you _are_ paying attention now." Raising a brow, she smirked.

"Why should I?"

"Don't you ever learn that you ought to pay attention when someone is talking to you?"

"Screw that!"

"That's what people call manners, Zaizen-kun."

"Heh, as if you're the one to talk, Senpai. I don't wanna hear a lecture about manners from a girl who deliberately threw a ball at someone else."

From afar, the rest of the team watched in worry.

"What happened?" One of them asked.

The other gulped then answered. "I think… She had just awakened a sleeping giant."

"What should we do?" Asked another.

"Let them be, I guess. It's just too dangero-"

"ENOUGH!"

The shout made everyone petrified, including the arguing duo. They all looked at the coach. He really flared up.

"Get back to practice!" Osamu ordered both the regulars and non-regulars on the courts then he looked at Zaizen and Tsubaki. "You two," he pointed at them. "Cool your heads down by having another lap around the mountain."

"But-"

"Now!"

Zaizen grunted. He threw his towel and bottle aside and exited the courts. A moment later, he disappeared among the trees.

Still in the state of shock and confusion, Tsubaki turned to Osamu. "Do I also have to-?"

"Yes. I'm fully authorized here and my orders are absolute." He firmly replied.

She looked at him in disbelief. She didn't even belong to the team.

"Keep this in your mind, Miss. Racquets and tennis balls aren't tools to hurt people."

Her face turned red in embarrassment. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She bowed deeply.

"Well, I think you're apologizing to the wrong person."

She blinked in confusion. He gave her an understanding smile and gestured to the forest's path where Zaizen had just taken.

"Now, if you're pleased, Yamato…"

"Y- Yes sir, I understand." She bowed once again to the coach then ran to catch up with Zaizen.

* * *

"Zaizen-kun, wait!" Tsubaki desperately called the younger boy as she was trying her best to catch up. He was so damn fast. Even though she had better stamina than other normal girls thanks to her Kendo club training, he was still too fast for her. "Za- Zaizen-kun!" She panted. This wasn't good, the distance between them grew wider and wider. What should she do if she completely lost track of him? She didn't want to get lost here! Ugh, she really wished she had taken another ball with her. That way, she would have been able to throw it to him again and (hopefully) make him stop for a while.

"Wa-AAAAH!"

Suddenly everything around her spun around. She closed her eyes in reflect and when she opened them again, she found herself lying on the ground. She blankly stared at the sky. What… What had just happened?

"Senpai! Senpai, are you alright?"

She could hear his voice. Strange, why did his voice sound so far? She was sure he had been right in front of her just now.

"Don't move, ok? I'll go down now." He said again. A moment later she saw him. His face was pale and terrifying. Strange, it was the first time she saw him in such condition.

"Are you alright?" He knelt down next to her and helped her sat up. "Slowly."

She could feel pain slowly creep over her body as her back left the ground. "I'm okay… I think."

He examined her. It wasn't as bad as he had thought. She was really lucky she had landed on a pile of dry leaves. It helped reduce the damage on her body.

"God, Senpai. If you were listening to Osamu's nonsense talk about bears, you should have listened more to his warning about the slippery path." He grumbled, but there was a hint of relief in his voice.

She held her aching head. Slippery? Had she just slipped and fallen down a cliff? Phew, thank God it was declivitous.

"Sorry." She said after her mind start working properly.

He sat on the dry leaves then answered. "Well, there's no need to apologize to me."

"Still, I have to apologize to you for what I have done earlier. You know, the ball…"

"It was also my fault for ignoring you," he paused for a while then continued. "Sorry, I was just not in a good mood back then."

There was an awkward silence between them until she decided to break it.

"So, are you still not in _a good mood_?"

He glanced at her. "It depends."

"Huh?"

"Say, what made you join the camp? I thought you hate boys." He asked out of the blue.

She thought for a while. "Why does everyone ask about it? Tsubasa asked a similar question yesterday."

"Oh, really?" He rolled his eyes. It would have been the end of the world if that kid hadn't asked her about it. Then again, he felt slightly annoyed to find some similarity between them.

"He asked why I agreed to attend a training camp full of boys." She continued without noticing a little change in him.

"So, why did you agree to do so?"

"First, I don't hate boys in general. I just dislike the bad, flirty boys. Second, I have nothing to do. And third…"

He raised a brow. "Third?"

"I… You know, I..," she stammered. The third reason was embarrassing, especially if she spoiled it in front of the very person it was. "I owe you a lot. So I think it might be a good chance to pay back."

He gaped. "That's…ridiculous."

She was about to protest when he cut in.

"We should go back or else we'll miss the entire practice."

At first she was confused, but then she remembered that they were actually in the middle of detention. "Right."

He changed his position and turned around so that he was kneeling with his back facing to her.

She blinked. "Wha-?"

"You won't be able to walk with that condition, will you?"

She stared at his back. Was he offering for a piggyback ride? Piggyback? Wait! Was it for_ real_?

"Be quick or else I'll leave you alone here."

She bit her lower lip and placed her hands on his shoulders. Oh, she was really tense. Her heart beat so fast. Slowly, she leaned her body closer to his back. He then stood up without giving any sign of embarrassment and it surprised her. For a second, she had thought she would have fallen but she didn't. He held her firmly and easily, supporting her weight.

It was the first time she realized how strong he was as a boy despise being younger. She also noted that he had wide shoulders, definitely much wider than hers… and warmer.

Dear God, she could only wish he wouldn't notice her heartbeat.

* * *

**Mens are scarier than bears… oh really? I think women are even scarier XD**

**Thank you for reading, please drop a review :D**


	10. Ch10: You Like Her, Don't You?

**Hello~! Finally this fic reaches the tenth chapter! Oh, yes! Oh, no? XD We'll have some feedback questions in the end of this chapter. Hope you don't mind answering them :)**

**Disclaimer: Konomi-sensei owns everything here but the OCs.**

**Sorry for any grammatical mistake and typo! My beta reader is really busy these days D:**

**Have you listened to Shiraishi's Tsuioku?**

* * *

**Ch10: You Like Her, Don't You?**

"Zaizen~"

The said boy turned around to see one of his senior as he heard his name called. He frowned as he caught a sight of Kenya. That annoying, stupid grin… He knew the bleached hair third year was up to something.

And most likely, it wasn't going to be a good thing.

"Zaizen-kun~" Kenya hummed as he slung his arm around the junior's shoulder. The other boy quickly shrugged him off. No skin contact, please. Not when they're both half-naked, not in public bathroom.

"What?" Zaizen coldly replied. What was with that _kun_ suffix?

Kenya's grin widened as he saw the boy glared at him. "I see you're unusually being a gentleman today."

"What do you mean?" Zaizen questioned. He was still as cool as ever.

"Well, you helped Yamato and gave her a piggy back ride." Kenya said.

"She was hurt and I couldn't leave her in the middle of forest, could I?" Zaizen replied matter-of-factly.

"That's true." Kenya stopped for awhile. He tapped his point fingers to the chin and mused _as if_ he was thinking. "To think again, you are really nice to her…"

"Huh?"

"You help her study." Kenya explained.

"That's… Just say I pity her because she studies hard yet she still doesn't understand the subject… And since English is my best subject…" Zaizen answered.

"You do that every day."

"That's because she is in the library every day."

"But_ you_ usually don't go there _that often_."

Zaizen opened his mouth but he shut it a moment later. He was silent for a while before he spoke. "What are you trying to say?"

Kenya knew Zaizen wasn't stupid. He was anything but stupid after all. This boy should know what the older boy meant. "I wonder what it is…"

Zaizen's eyebrows furrowed. Damn you and your stupid grin, Kenya-senpai!

"I also heard that you waited for her and escorted her home after the supplementary class the other day…" Kenya smirked.

Zaizen's eyes wide opened and his lips parted. "W- What? How-"

"Oh, I heard that from Chitose. He also attended that stupid supplementary class and he said he saw you." Kenya said. He was really amused by Zaizen's reaction. The usual composed boy was stuttering in front of him now. Not to mention the boy's cheeks were… red!

"You're blushing~"

"No, I'm not. It must be because of the hot water."

Kenya chuckled. The stubborn boy in front of him was very cute. (Zaizen might kill him though if he said that cute word loud.)

"You like her, don't you?"

* * *

"What was that?" Tsubaki gasped as she heard a loud crash sound, followed by some boys' screams.

"Ah… That must be the boys' another antic." Kouki replied calmly. "No need to worry."

Tsubaki stared at the other girl. "How can you-"

"Stay calm? Well, you'll get used to them eventually." Kouki chuckled.

"I see…" Still, she was amazed by how composed Kouki was. What if somebody got hurt?

"If Kouki-san says so, then you really don't have to worry about them." Tsubasa said. "If there was really someone's dying, they must be calling for us right now."

Tsubaki exhaled. Her brother was right (though the dying part was rather mean). For now, she had to focus on the carrots and onions; otherwise they wouldn't make it to prepare dinner.

There was no worker in the lodge so they had to prepare the meal by themselves. The girls didn't take a bath immediately after the practice ended like the boys; instead they were in the kitchen now with knives in their hands. It was hard to prepare meal for around 50 people. They were making curry and there were a lot of carrots, apples, potatoes, onions and beef they had to cut first.

"Yo!" Someone greeted as he slid the kitchen door open. The girls turned around to see who it was.

"Kura!" Kouki exclaimed as the said boy walked in.

"Did something happen? We heard a riot just now." Tsubaki asked to him.

""Oh, that was…" Shiraishi glanced at the curious girl. A smirked plastered on his face. "Zaizen_-kun_ tried to kill Kenya but unfortunately he failed."

Her eyes widened. "Eh? Zaizen-kun was-"

"No need to worry. Everything is fine now." He casually replied.

She was still a little worried, but since Shiraishi looked very calm, maybe nothing bad had happened. (Otherwise everyone would have been in panic at the moment.)

"Anyway, how's the preparation?" He asked as he looked at the half-ready ingredients.

"So-so. There are still a lot of things to work on. I hope we can make it in time." Kouki replied.

"I see. I'll ask some freshmen to help you up then," he reached his hand past the girl and took an apple. "Not Kin-chan of course." He added playfully as he bit the apple.

"Hey! That's for today's dinner." She protested.

He chuckled then offered it to her. "Missing one apple won't hurt, will it?"

"Geez…" She pouted. Nevertheless, she still took it from him and ate it.

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." He said patting her head lightly.

Suddenly the two was cut by a loud, forced cough. "Excuse me; I thought you said you were going to ask some freshmen to help us." Tsubasa said slightly annoyed.

"Oh, right." Shiraishi awkwardly replied. He quickly left the room and disappeared to the corridor.

Tsubasa frowned. "You guys, this isn't an appropriate time and place to be lovey-dovey."

"Sorry…" Kouki timidly squeaked. Tsubasa was scary even though he was younger than her.

"Don't you think so, onee-san?" He turned to his sister. "Nee-san?" Receiving no answer from her, he curiously tapped her on the shoulder.

Tsubaki jolted as she snapped from her thought and nearly dropped the knife she was holding.

"W- what?" She looked at him with puzzled expression.

He scowled. "Nee-san, you weren't listening at all, were you?"

* * *

'Geez, why can't they leave me alone?' Zaizen huffed as he walked out to the second floor veranda. His seniors, especially the idiot Kenya-senpai, had been pestering him since this afternoon. They kept calling him _Zaizen-kun_ for a certain reason. They even referred him with that stupid suffix while talking to the others.

He exhaled heavily. He wished he hadn't gone here on the first place. Well, there had been some good things happening here, but still… Those guys were all pain in the ass. To think that they were older than him… Why couldn't they act more mature?

Right, it would have been much better if they had been more mature. Especially that stupid, idiot self proclaimed speed star. Had that guy not spoil his _little secret_ to the other regulars…

He was cursing under his breath and strolling around when he saw a familiar girl with short dark brown hair was standing against the railing. She was alone. It was strange to find her without her brother. The siblings were usually together.

He looked around. Well, nobody but two of them was there.

"What are you doing here? You'll catch a cold." He said.

Tsubaki was surprised when she heard his voice and quickly turned at him. She was slightly relieved when she knew that it was returned to her previous state and gazed on the dark sky. "I won't."

He sneered as he stood beside him and leaned to the railing. He replied. "Right, idiots don't catch colds."

"What do you mean?" She shot a glare at him but he was looking away. She sighed and looked at the sky again after she concluded that he wasn't going to give her any reply. Both of them stood side by side without saying anything for a while. Sometimes she stole a glance. He was still looking straight to the sky. She didn't know whether he was simply admiring the beautiful starts (which was rather unbelievable) or was thinking about something… Just like her.

"So, what are you doing here?" He suddenly said, breaking the silence between them.

"I'm just… thinking about something." She answered.

"I see." was his replied before they went back to the silent phase.

"You know," she began after deciding that she should just spill her thought. "Back then when we were preparing the dinner I saw Kouki-san and Shiraishi-san together and somehow I feel… a little jealous… I- It's not like I have a crush on him or something!" She added as she felt he was staring blankly at her. "It's just… I think… It must be nice to have a boyfriend."

He could see her cheeks reddened even though it was lack of light there. Why did she tell him about it? He wondered why…

"I didn't know that you wanted to be like Kouki-senpai…"

"I- I'm not saying that I wanna be like her, it's just-"

"Having a strange boyfriend who is obsessed with freaking poisonous plant, flirting to each other even in public, and on top of that, being an idiotic couple. Really, who wants to be like her and having buchou as a boyfriend?" He cut.

"W- What? Wait! That's not what I mean!" She pouted. "I just wanna be like… like… anybody else…. Being a normal girl."

"_Normal_?"

She looked at him with a sad smile. "I never tell my family about this, but actually I also want to hang out with my friends after the school ends even just once. I want to go shopping with them and wear cute dresses girls usually do. Going to coffee shop, karaoke, game arcade, concert… Having a date, a boyfriend, being called by my first name…"

He listened to her without saying anything and let her continue.

"I think I should wait at least until Tsubasa turns fifteen, though I'm not sure my parents will let me do whatever I want once I'm free from my duty."

He looked at her. Somehow he was amazed by how she could keep up with such a life. If it had been him, he would have run away from home. Well, that might have been kinda impossible if he had been a girl, but at least he would have demanded for some freedom.

"I don't understand why you are really obedient to your family. What do you want to be? A _Yamato Nadeshiko_?"

"I don't-"

"You don't really need your parents' consent. You're not a little kid anymore."

"But-"

"Oh, I know. You're just too afraid to oppose them."

"I'm not-"

"I bet you're chickened out and don't even dare to speak up in front of them."

"Stop cutting my line! Show a little respect, you brat!" She finally burst out. "And I'm not _that_ afraid of them."

Instead of being surprised or scared, a smirked appeared on his face. "Prove it then."

"Wha-"

"Say, are you free for the rest of the holiday?"

She blinked in confusion. Why did he suddenly change the topic?

"Then, this Saturday, I'll be waiting for you on ten o'clock in front of your apartment building." He straightened his back then turned around. He walked away leaving her behind.

She was still confused, no, she was even more confused. What had he just said? Was it… Was it really a…

"It _is_ a date." He said as he stopped one meter away from the door. "Well then, good night, Tsubaki-senpai."

…

…

…

"What are they talking about? I can't hear anything!" Kenya grumbled as he pressed his ear to a wooden door so that he could hear more clearly.

"Shhh… You're being too loud, Kenya!" Shiraishi warned. "Zaizen might find us!"

Yuuji sighed as he peeked through a gap between the nearly closed door and its frame. "But really, they are so strange. I can't make a guess what are they talking about. First they looked like they were talking about a serious problem, then suddenly she got angry and a minute later she was speechless."

"That's called couple issues~" Koharu hummed. He then suddenly exclaimed (which made him receive glares from the others except Yuuji and Kintarou). "Don't tell me, they're a couple already?"

"Uh… What are you talking about? Why should we stay here? What's up with Zaizen? I don't understand." Kintarou whined. "And I'm hungry. Can't we get something to eat?"

Chitose chuckled. "Well, I suppose it'll take another 2 years 5 month and 18 days for Kin-chan to understand about this."

"Hum." Gin nodded in agreement. The others laughed in amusement seeing the redhead's innocence. Kintarou was still a little kid after all.

"Guys…" Koishikawa try to call out his friends. "I think, I think we gotta go…"

"Huh?" They all were about to turned to the vice-captain when suddenly the door in front of them was opened.

Zaizen stared at them. His eyes were slightly widened, showing that he was really surprise to find his friends there.

The boys gulped. They only had three seconds to save their precious life.

3…

2…

1…

"What the hell are you doing here!"

* * *

**Seems that the Shitenhouji regulars really like eavesdropping XD (Oh, I do really want to be like Kouki and have Kura as my boyfriend~~)**

**The next chapter shall be *fanfares* DATE! Finally!**

**Okay, let's move to the questions I was talking about earlier:**

**1) OCs. What do you think about the OCs? Do you like Tsubaki and Tsubasa? Do you think they are Sues? Do you find them (or one of them) annoying? What about the other OCs?**

**2) CCs. Are the canons OOC? Does one of them turn into Canon-Sue?**

**3) Side characters. Do you think they (both side OCs and CCs) get enough screen time? Should they appear more often in the story? Do you find it annoying if I put in some OCs from my other story?  
**

**4) Storyline. Is it good enough? Do you find it too slow? Any suggestion/advice for improvement?**

**Please help me improving this story by answering the questions. Cookies for those who review this chapter and answer the feedback questions! Love you all! :3**


	11. Ch11: His Magic

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.**

**Sorry for bad English, typo and grammatical error.**

**Let's skip the tennis camp and go directly to the X day~ The date! :D**

* * *

**Ch11: His Magic**

This couldn't be true! It was a date! A date! Tsubaki cupped her flushed cheeks as she gazed her reflection on a mirror. Today was Saturday and it was almost ten o'clock. Here she was, standing in front of the mirror and getting ready for her _appointment_ with a certain boy. She still couldn't believe that they were going on a date. Well, she knew he might do this simply because he felt sorry for her and this might be only a date between _friends_, but she couldn't help feeling happy.

She looked at the pile of clothes around her. She sighed. There was one big problem: she didn't have any proper dress. Girls should be cute and stunning on their first date, yet she was lack of good clothes, let alone accessories.

What should she do?

"What are you doing?"

She jolted in surprised as she heard that voice. "Tsubasa! Why are you here? You should knock the door first!"

"Well, I did." He said as he examined her messy room. "You didn't answer so I just walk in since the door isn't locked."

Really? She hadn't heard him before.

"So, _what are you doing_?" He asked again.

"I…" She bit her lower lips. He must be suspicious about the scattered clothes. What should she say? It was no way she would tell him about her date with Zaizen. Those guys were in bad relationship and he would surely object if he knew about this. "I'm just separating old clothes from the new ones." He laughed nervously. She then glanced at the cloak. Crap! It's already ten! "I have to go now. I need to buy some… text books." She rushed out her room and went to the front door. She took any pair of shoes she could find. "I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere, okay?" She shouted to Tsubasa who was still in her room before she closed the door.

She ran down from the seventh floor using the staircase because the elevator was stuck in higher floor and she knew it might take some time to wait for it. She exited the apartment some minutes later and found Zaizen was waiting for him right in front of the gate, just like what he had said before. She tried to catch her breath before approaching the younger boy and greet him.

"Sorry for the wait." She said, trying to be as calm as she could. She didn't want him to know that she had just sprint from her room because she was late.

"Yo." He greeted back. He put his cell phone to his pants' pocket and turned to her. He stared at her for a while; his eyes scanned her from top to toe and from toe back to top. "Greet choice of clothing for a date." He said in sarcastic tone.

"What? I…" She realized what he was talking about when she looked at her plain blue polo shirt, a pair of knee length denim pants and white flat shoes. Great. She had been too panic when Tsubasa had entered her room that she had forgotten to change her clothes. "It can't be help. It would be hard to deceive my brother if I dress up so tidily." She lied.

He exhaled. He touched his nape with his left hand as he looked around with blank eyes. She used this chance to examine his appearance. White printed t-shirt plus black cardigan of which sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, a pair of pale blue jeans, white sneakers and metal accessories like necklace and chains. He was perfect… and hot. She had to looked away to hide her blush.

"As expected," he began. "You don't have any good clothes, do you?"

She widened her eyes. How could he think like that? How could he… know?

"You once said that you wanted to try on some cute dresses like girls usually do so I presume you don't have any." He explained flatly.

She pouted in defeat. Well, he was right. It was even right on the bull's eyes.

"Come."

She was confused when she saw her walked away in slow pace. She really didn't understand how he thought nor did she know what he was up to. "Huh? Where are we going?"

"Well, I think we should find proper clothes for you first. I don't want my date looks homely."

She sulked. How could he say such a cruel thing? Calling her homely… Oh, right. He _was_ Zaizen Hikaru. He might be a good person, but his mouth was as sharp as ever.

Nevertheless, she still obediently followed him.

They walked along the street, then turned left on the second block then turned right twice. After 10 minutes or so, he stopped in front of a small shop. She looked closely at the purple shop sign, _beauty salon_ words were neatly written on it with curly golden fonts.

"Wait, Zaizen-kun, why are we here?" She asked.

"Just go inside." He ordered.

"I'll go inside but you have you answer my question first." She demanded. "I know it may be something about my clothes, but I don't think I need to go to a beauty salon."

Before he could say anything in reply, the shop's door was opened. A sound of jingling bell that was placed on the door gained her attention. She turned to see what was going on and there she found a woman in her early twenties had just walked out from the shop. She was very beautiful and skinny. She had curly long honey brown hair. Her clothes are simple but fashionable. She had a great taste in fashion. Tsubaki bet she was the owner of this beauty salon.

The woman smiled when she saw the two teens in front of her shop. "Hikaru!" She walked approaching them. She stood next to him and looked closely at Tsubaki. She giggled then leaned to the boy. "Is it her?"

"Yeah." He gave a short reply.

Her smile widened as she greeted the young girl in front of her. "Hello there, you must be Tsubaki-chan." Tsubaki was surprised by how she knew her name. She noticed Tsubaki's reaction thus she continued. "My name is Zaizen Azusa. I'm Hikaru's sister-in-law. He told me about you."

Tsubaki glanced at him. Really? Was that true? Had he really told his sister about… her?

"Let's talk about it inside, shall we? We still have a lot of things to work on anyway."

* * *

Tsubaki really had no idea what was happening now. Azusa, Zaizen's sister-in-law (she was also surprise by the fact that he already had a sister-in-law), dragged her inside the beauty salon. They both entered a small room. Azusa ordered her to stand still in the middle of the room. Tsubaki did so and the older woman started to search for something from some paper bags she had prepared before. Later, Tsubaki realized that those bags contained various kinds of dresses.

"S- So, what did Zaizen-kun say to you?" Tsubaki nervously asked.

"Nothing much. He just said that he needed my help and would come here today with a friend named Tsubaki." Azusa lightly replied. She was still busy deciding which dress suited Tsubaki the most.

After tossing some more clothes aside, Azusa finally found the perfect one. She told Tsubaki to try it. Tsubaki obeyed her and wore it.

"I'm glad my old dress suits you perfectly. It was my favorite one." Azusa smiled contently as she looked at Tsubaki. She then dragged the girl to a chair and started _playing_ with her hair. Azusa used a curling iron, hair spray and some other cosmetics Tsubaki had never touched before, and gave her a quick make over.

…

…

…

Zaizen was reading a magazine in the waiting room when his sister came out from the dressing room. He put the magazine on the table and stood up. Judging by her happy expression, she must have finished her job smoothly.

"Come on, don't be so shy." She said pulling Tsubaki's hand. The girl peeked behind the door before she hesitantly walked out from the room. Azusa pushed her forward so that he could see her more clearly. She stood nervously in front of him as he looked carefully at her new appearance.

Her chin length dark brown hair was curled. She wore sleeveless white mini dress with blue lines borders and big ribbon on her waist, a matching blue hand bag and a pair of silver high heels with white pearls and ribbons. Azusa also had applied some make up like eye liner, mascara and peach lip gloss.

She was very different from before and her change was pretty stunning.

"You… look like you're going to _shichi-go-san_."

"Shi-? What?" Tsubaki's cheeks burned in embarrassment as she heard his comment. "Just as I thought, this dress doesn't look good on me." She turned around and tried to go back to the dressing room but Azusa stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Hey, Hikaru, can't you give more generous compliment to her?" The woman complained.

Generous compliment? That was so NOT him.

He touched his mouth with the back of his hand. Although it covered half of his face, his reddened cheeks were still noticeable. "I mean… I mean, you look quite good."

"And?" Azusa smirked as she leaned forward. Her hands firmly clutched on Tsubaki's shoulders.

"And you're… sorta… cute." He stuttered. His face had completely turned red now like a ripe apple. "That's enough, isn't it? Now, go away!" He yelled at his sister.

"Fine, fine. I'll go~" Azusa chuckled as she released Tsubaki. She went back to the changing room. She looked at the couple before she closed the door and said, "Bye Tsubaki-chan. I hope you'll call me _onee-chan_ next time we meet."

"That woman…" He grumbled, scratching his head. He could still hear her laughing from afar.

Tsubaki played with her manicured nails. She still couldn't believe what he had just said about her.

"Say, Zaizen-kun…"

"Huh?"

"Do I really look good?"

"Well, yeah… It's still a bit plain though."

"I see." She looked down, a little disappointed.

Seeing this, he stepped closer to her. He took something from his pocket and pinned it to her hair. She reached her hand to find out what it was.

It was a small flower hairpin.

"It's better this way." He smiled gently. It was the first time she saw him smiling like that.

She nodded in silence as she didn't know what to say. She was very happy. She was too happy that everything seemed unreal for her. She had thought that it had been impossible to actualize her secret wish, but here she was! She wore cute dress she had always dreamt of and was also about to go on a date. Right in front of her, stood an (extremely good looking) guy. Her date.

"Shall we go?" He offered a hand to her.

She had never thought before that this would happen so sudden.

It was just like a dream comes true.

He helped her realized her wish with his magic.

* * *

**Okay, so it's not the date yet. This ends up longer than I excepted so I decide to divide the story into two chapters ^^**

**Actually I also wanted to introduce Zaizen's older brother and nephew along with his sister-in-law, but… maybe next time. BTW, the older brother's name is Akira. Why? Well, Akira means **_**bright**_** while Hikaru means**_** light**_**. **

**Have you watched the new OVA? I watched the first story yesterday and I really LOVE it. Zaizen is very adorable there~ For all Zaizen's fans, you should watch it! **

**Last but not the least, don't forget to review naa! **


	12. Ch12: One Day Cinderella

**Hello there! I'm really sorry about the extremely late update. The previous chapter was about… two month ago? Oh well, anyway, as my apology, here I present you a much longer chapter ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TeniPuri. **

**This chapter is unbetaed. You may find some typos and grammatical mistakes (maybe a lot? I hope it won't be that bad). Feel free to correct them :)**

**Enjoy. Here come the last part of the date.**

* * *

**Ch12: One Day Cinderella**

Tsubaki felt her face so hot and her heart beating fast. It was her first date, after all. Wait, was it really a _date_? Well, she and Zaizen were walking hand in hand at the moment like a couple so… It was a date.

"Look, that guy is so good-looking." Someone said. Tsubaki looked at a group of girls across the street who giggled as they set their eyes at the _hot_ boy beside her.

"Hot, isn't he?" She heard another comment on him. This time it was some women in their twenties who had just passed them by.

She stole a glance at him. _Aww_. She seconded them; he was indeed really hot. God, thinking of this made her even more tensed. What if people found her not attractive enough to be his partner? Back than at school, she wasn't a popular girl like her brother was. No one had ever asked her to go out (although she didn't really care about it because her family always came first). Was him really sure he want to go out with her like this? She began to feel uncomfortable. What if he had asked her on date only because he had pitied her? She had told him about her secret wishes and somehow he had felt sorry for her so that he had decided to help her. If it had been true, she shouldn't get too overexcited because of this date.

"Don't they look so cute together?"

"Yeah, the guy is really cool. The girl is quite pretty too."

She couldn't help smiling when she heard those statements from some old ladies that looked at them while shopping.

_Really?_ Did they really think like that? She was really glad to hear it and felt the weight on her back disappeared. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she had thought. His sister had helped her giving a makeover and he himself had also said that she had looked good (not directly though, it actually had been only a simple yeah and a nod).

"Here we are." His voice interrupted her chain of thought.

She looked up and saw a western-styled, one story house with many dark ebony windows with black rails. There was a café sign with swirly decorations above its wooden door. She also saw some fancy umbrella tables and red flowers in white pots on the terrace. _Such __a__ cute__ café._ A waiter who was standing by the door greeted them. Zaizen casually talked back to him and said something she couldn't hear as she was too busy admiring the building. The older man nodded politely to him then opened the door for them.

"Hey, let's get inside." Once again he took her back to the real world. She smiled sheepishly at him then they followed the waiter inside. She could hear Jazz music as she stepped into the café. The waiter led them to a table for two next to a big window. The waiter pulled the chair out for her, she sat on it and Zaizen took the seat in front of her. The waiter handed them the menu and quietly waited as they flipped the pages. It was her first time going to this kind of place so she didn't sure what to order. She glanced at Zaizen, he looked so calm while reading the menu. A moment later he looked up from it then said to the waiter, "Black coffee, please."

The waiter, smiling as ever, wrote the order down on his notebook. He then looked at her as he finished writing. "And what would you like, miss?"

"Eh," She quickly looked down at her menu. She didn't want they to wait too long so she just said whatever she saw. "Orange juice and _Green __Tea__ Cheesecake__ with__ Raspberries__ and__ Raspberry-Mint__ Ti__… __Tisane_… please?"

The waiter noted her order and took the menu. "Just wait a moment, please." He said as politely excused himself.

"So…" Zaizen begun after the waiter left.

She raised a brow and repeated his word. "_So_?"

He leaned forward and rested his head on his left hand. The fingers of his other hand lightly tapped the table. "Do you know what _tisane_ is?"

Right on the bull's eye.

"No. Err, I mean, of course I do!" She lied.

He stared at him for a while and concluded. "As I thought. You can barely spell it right."

Crap. He could see through her lies, couldn't he? "Do _you_ know about it?" She asked back.

"Nope." He shortly answered.

"Ha! Then you don't have the right to laugh at me about it." She stated smugly. She thought she had won this conversation when he replied back.

"But I'm not the one who's ordering. And FYI I'm not laughing." He said matter-of-factly then added. "Whatever it is, you have to eat it up. I'm not paying if you don't."

"Eeh? But-"

"Did you even look at the price?"

"No…"

She looked down. Well, that was very stupid. Why hadn't she thought that he might pay her share as well since he was the one who had brought them here? It would be a shame if she didn't finish her meal, wouldn't it? Had he been more composed that time, she would have order something else. Oh God, she hadn't even looked at the price! What if it was really expensive?

"Pfft," she heard his voice and looked at him again. He was chuckling. "I was just joking. Whatever it is, I think it's still eatable. And it's still my treat even if you don't like it. Just don't vomit, okay?"

Although his statement sounded slightly offending, she didn't get irritated at all as it was the first time she saw him laughing. He looked like he was enjoying himself and she knew she should too. He did everything for her sake after all. Instead of musing like she had been doing all the time, she should have just enjoyed it.

And she secretly wished she could see him smile and laugh more often.

* * *

The what-so-called _Green Tea Cheesecake with Raspberries and Raspberry-Mint Tisane_ turned out to be much better than Tsubaki had expected. It was actually really delicious even though Zaizen refused to taste it because he said he didn't like cheesecake as it was too creamy for him. After finishing their meal (he only drank coffee though), he told her to go outside and wait for him there as he paid the bill.

She stood in front a display window of a shop next to the café where they had spent their tea-time together. She looked at her own reflection and made sure that she still looked good. She combed her hair with her fingers. She smiled as her fingers touched the flower hairpin he had given her earlier. Back then she had thought that it was a rose but now she realized that it wasn't. It was another flower which looked like a rose: camellia, _tsubaki_ in Japanese.

She had no idea that he was actually a quite romantic person.

Today she saw different sides of him. He seemed really close to his family that he didn't get embarrassed introducing his sister-in-law to her. He blushed, he smiled, he laughed… He was also even nicer than before.

It was only several month after they knew each other. He was really different from what she had thought about him before she had gotten to know him personally. Who had thought that a typical rebellious bad boy like him could have been the nicest person she had met? She chuckled as she recalled a memory on herself picking a fight with him. At that time she had only wished he could have just shut his mouth about Tsubasa's secret and now… She even had leaked about something she had never even mentioned in front of her brother: a simple wish to be like a normal girl and do what a normal girl normally do. She knew she couldn't ditch her duty in the family, however, just today… only for one day… she could be a Cinderella and sneaked out to meet her prince at the ball.

Well, speaking of a prince, Zaizen didn't suit that image at all. He was more like… a hero? No, it didn't suit her as well. He was just a boy with a different family background whom she met by a chance at the ball.

A _Romeo_, perhaps?

"I don't see anything funny here."

"Wha!" She nearly jumped in surprise as he suddenly appeared beside her. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Well, I don't." He said flatly. Actually he had been there for a minute or two but she hadn't noticed his present up until he had decided to speak. "So, what's so funny about the display?" He asked again.

"Eh?" She looked at him then at the things inside the display window and to him again. "Nothing?"

"Why were you smiling like an idiot then?"

"I don't- Wait! Whom are you calling as idiot?" She protested.

"It's only two of us here and I'm pretty sure I'm not an idiot so…" He replied, still with the straight face.

Geez. She looked away and pouted. Perhaps she was wrong. He_ wasn__'__t_ the nicest person she had ever met. A nice person wouldn't bluntly refer the other person as an idiot.

She refused to talk to him again so they just stood there in silence as if they were window shopping. Well, that was what happened until he finally broke the silence again.

"Where do you want to go next?" She turned to him with questioning face. "You did say you want to go to the arcade or karaoke but I think it would be more fun if there were more people so maybe we'll just go there another time. Now, is there any place you want to visit other than those two?"

She thought for a while. He got the point. Usually people went to arcade and karaoke in group. (Had he just say _another __time_?) Another place to go… She hadn't planned to go anywhere because she had been sure he would have been the one who lead their date so it was quite difficult. She stared at her own self. 'Think Tsubaki!' She mentally ordered her brain to work harder. There must be a good place to visit. She stared and stared at the reflection until a resolution popped in her mind at last, thanks to _her__ reflection_.

* * *

"Convenience store?" Zaizen said in disbelieve as they enter a, indeed, convenience store. Would people normally go to one when they were on date? Of course not!

"Yeah, there's something I wanna buy." She replied as she leading their way. "This store is quite good and I'm sure we'll easily find one that suits your liking."

He actually wanted to ask more such as what kind of thing she wanted to buy and what was with his liking but decided to say nothing and just see what would happen. She must have a reason why she brought him here and he would find out about it soon. He just hoped it would be quite logical and not something like asking him to help her bring the groceries.

"Here we are." She stopped in front of a shelf. He gazed at the things on it and they were all small kitchenware like spoons, plastic glasses, drinking bottles, and lunch boxes.

"So, which one do you like?" She asked, offering two lunch boxes to him; one was black when the other was dark blue.

"Lunch box?" He asked in disbelief, staring at them.

"Yep. Didn't you say you want to eat my handmade bento again? I only have two lunch boxes at home so I thought I should buy one for you so that I can make three boxes of bento at once." She explained happily then asked again. "Well then, which one do you like? Oh, there're also red and green ones in the shelf."

'I see.' He thought after listening to her reason.

He then picked a dark red one and she chose a piece of black furoshiki to accompany it. She said the two colors suited each other perfectly. After deciding what to buy they went to cashier. He was going to take her wallet out when she stopped her. She insisted she want to pay it herself.

"Is it okay?" He asked as they left the store, referring to the groceries inside the paper bag in her hand.

"Of course. They're gonna be kept in my house anyway. Besides…" She stopped for a while. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she continued. "Besides, you've treated me and gave me this hairpin. I also wanted to buy something for you in return." Yep, she had gotten this idea when she had seen the hairpin's reflection on the window.

"That's not really necessary, you know?" He said as he touched his nape.

She shook her head and grinned. "Of course it is. Say, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for tomorrow's lunch."

"Shiratama zenzai." He quickly replied.

She slightly frowned. "Geez. That again. It's not something you eat for lunch!"

"Anything is fine as long it's satiate."

"But it's a dessert."

"Then make it as a dessert to accompany the main course. Simple, isn't it?"

Time went really fast as they talked and without realizing the sky had turned into orange and the sun was setting. She had to go home soon or else Tsubasa would get worried. He offered to walk her home and she accepted it. They talked about a lot of thing like foods, sports and school while walking home. Really, she wished she could have stopped the time so that she could have been with him longer. She felt really comfortable when he was around; she also wanted to know more about him.

It was just too bad that she couldn't. She could only wait till the time they could see each other again, which was actually only about twelve hours or so from now. The school started again tomorrow and she also had a reason to see him in the morning. She completely knew about it and there was no reason to get sad. But, why? Why did she felt this way?

She looked at him closely. His black hair turned slightly brown because of the sunset. His face also looked redder because of it.

"You know," he turned to her and flicked on her forehead. "Stop looking at me with that longing face. Or else…"

"Or else?"

"Or else I even don't want to let you go home."

Perhaps…

Perhaps his reddened face wasn't only because of the sunset.

Perhaps both of them were thinking of the same thing.

Perhaps they felt the same.

What was it? What was this feeling called?

His hand slid down from her forehead to cheek. She felt his face was closer than ever. She held her breathe as the distance between their faces became closer and closer. She slowly closed her eyes and waited for a k-

"Tsubaki-san!"

They filched and he quickly pushed her away in reflect. Their faces were completely red.

"Tsubaki-san, what are you doing!"

She shivered as she heard that voice again. She really knew it. She knew whose voice it was and what it meant.

It meant doom for her.

She slowly turned her face to see the owner of that familiar voice. There she saw a woman in the mid forties. She wore dark brown traditional clothes. From her expression, Tsubaki knew that the older woman was really angry.

"Mother…"

_No__ matter__ how __Cinderella__ loved __to__ be __at __the __ball,__ she__ should__ go __home __before __the__ clock __stroke__ twelve,__ b__ecause__ at__ twelve __o'clock__ the__ magic__ will__ stop._

* * *

**Cliffhanger! XD Okay, okay. I'll try to update as soon as possible so don't kill me, okay? **

**Speaking of the flower hairpin… Guess whose idea it was~?**

**Thank you for reading and please do review and tell me what you think about this chapter :)**


	13. Ch13: A Spring which Ends Too Soon

**Hello there! Okay, okay don't hit me D: I won't use excuse this time. I was lazy… and busy… getting my life back during the holiday. First of all, happy _super ultra great_ late new year and Chinese new year. It's February now and that means my birthday is coming :DDD I feeeeeelll ooooooollld. It's this Thursday! Present, anyone? *so shameless***

**Anyway, after a long hiatus (my longest one so far) here I bring you… a somewhat… despairing chapter (I guess). **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis. The new anime is awesome but it's just too bad that Zaizen's part GOT CUT there and no one even remember about him (and Yuuji) because they're too busy complaining about Sanada and Yukimura's match!**

**Bad English and full of typos as usual. It took several try for me to write this chapter.**

**p.s. This chapter is mostly written from Zaizen's POV… Enjoy, not.**

* * *

**Ch13: A Spring which Ends Too Soon**

Zaizen was uneasy. His teammates could see that he was distracted during the sparing match. His control was off and he often faulted. After the match, in which he lost 6-3, he put his towel over the head and sat silently on the bench. He repeatedly flipped his cell phone, as if he was waiting for something. His face was hidden by the towel's shade, making it impossible to guess his feeling. The regulars exchanged looks. What had happened to their second year ace?

After secretly discussing what to do, they sent Kenya, the one who supposed to be the closest one to Zaizen as they were double partners, to find out what was wrong with him. Kenya approached the younger boy and sat next to him. Kenya glanced at Zaizen but he didn't know what to say. Zaizen wasn't the type who would share his problem with others. Kenya was afraid Zaizen would be offended if ever he tried to cross the line. Plus, Zaizen was deadly scary when he was pissed. Kenya looked at his friends, desperately looking for some helps, but the guys only grinned back at him and gave their thumbs up as if it could have encouraged him. Sighing, he turned to the black haired boy and prepared himself.

"Yo, Zaizen! What's up?" Kenya greeted the boy as casually as he could, as if nothing was wrong.

Zaizen just made "Hn." sound to let Kenya knew that he was listening. He did it without even looking back at his senior. The dark green orbs were still fixed on the cell phone's screen, which showed neither new message nor e-mail.

Receiving the passive reply, Kenya tried to engage him in a conversation. "Man, I don't believe you lose to Koishikawa."

"So do I." Zaizen replied shortly.

Another pain in the ass reply. Why should Zaizen be this gloomy? Nevertheless, Kenya still had to dig out some information from this brat. "You were really unfocused. Is there something wrong?"

This time Zaizen didn't have any reply.

Kenya's eyebrow twitched. This brat, he didn't have any idea how worried everyone was. This time, he decided to tease him a bit like he normally did. "Don't tell me you're thinking about that Yamato girl~ You confessed to her, right?" A mili-second later the speed star found himself stabbed by an imaginary dagger that came from Zaizen's dark green orbs. "O- Okay, okay. I won't ask anything again." He grinned nervously as he raised his hands. Knowing that it's better to let the boy alone, he decided to retreat.

After the bugging senior was gone, Zaizen leaned his back onto the railings. He looked up at the sky and sighed. Kenya wasn't entirely wrong. He was indeed thinking about that particular girl, just not in the way the older guy had thought.

That girl… Tsubaki hadn't said anything at all after the last time they met and it made him worried. Why didn't she text him? Why didn't she say anything to him? Not even a single _'sorry about that' _or _'don't mind about mother'_. Had something bad happened after that old lady had driven him out? He never expected her to tell him everything about her family problems but at least he need to know whether she was okay or not.

He covered his eyes with the back of his arm. She didn't show up at school after the autumn holiday had ended and he couldn't visit her at home as the old lady might be there. He was really worried about her yet he couldn't do anything. He was afraid if he made a wrong move everything would be even worse. He could only wait for her to eventually say something and it might take forever.

This was driving him crazy.

"ZAIZEN!"

A loud voice broke his chain of thought. That yelling, he knew whose voice it was. He turned his head and peeked through his arm. It was no other than the ever cheerful Kintarou. "What is it?" he grunted, glaring to the kid.

Kintarou's wide grin greeted him. "Tsubaki-neechan's come to visit!"

Huh? Tsubaki-senpai what?

"Really?" Zaizen quickly stood up. The sudden movement made his towel drop to the ground.

But he couldn't care less…

"Yep! She's in front of the club now." The redhead replied.

Zaizen quickly dashed to the front gate, completely ignoring the fact that he didn't even thank the younger boy he left behind.

"It's good that we asked Kin-chan to deliver the message." Chitose said as the third year boys watched their juniors from afar.

"What's this? He's just love sick?" Kenya scowled. Somehow he regretted that he had been worried about the second year brat.

Shiraishi patted his best friend's shoulder. "Calm down, Kenya. After all Zaizen's spring has only just begun."

"I think you need to find a girlfriend as soon as possible, Senpai." Yuuji teased as he mimicked the second year.

The rest of the group just either chuckled or laughed. No one had thought before that the boy's spring was just about to end.

* * *

"Sorry for interrupting your practice." Tsubaki said as Zaizen closed the wooden door behind him.

"It's okay. My matched has ended a while ago anyway." He touched the nape of his neck and tried to act as cool as he could. After all, it would be embarrassing if she find out that he had lost the match miserably.

He secretly gazed at her. Her usual smile was plastered on her face, which should be a good sign. Things might have happened better than he had thought. He must have been too paranoid. He was a little disappointed that she didn't wear the hairclip but it might be too flashy for her to wear, after all she wasn't the type of girl who wore accessories at school. He looked at her hands which were kept behind her back. She was holding something, he guessed.

"That's good to hear," she sighed in relief. She then offered him a white paper bag with her right hand. "Here. I come here to return your sister's clothes."

"You can keep them actually." He told her.

"Nn," she shook her head. "I should return what I borrowed. Moreover, your sister might still want to use them."

He hesitantly took it. "Okay then."

"I still have something for you." She said. Her smile grew bigger as she showed him something else she had been keeping secret from him with her other hand. "Ta-dah!" She exclaimed.

He looked at the thing in her hand which he recognized as a homemade bento. It was wrapped with the new black furoshiki they had bought together.

"You should've told me earlier if you brought me a lunch." He huffed as he received it.

_That's right… She should've told him something… So that he wouldn't have been worried like an idiot._

"Sorry…" She grinned sheepishly. "But look, I've found a way to put shiratama zenzai into the box without spoiling it."

"Huh? You did make it?" He stared at his neatly wrapped lunch box. Who would've thought that she had taken his jokes seriously?

"Savor it, okay..," she said slowly. "After all it's my parting gift."

He quickly looked up at her face. What? Did his ears deceiving him?

"_I am moving away from Osaka."_

* * *

**Ehm, so the new semester has started so I'll try to at least update once a month. BTW it's almost one year since I started writing this story :D**

**Okay, show our poor Zaizen some love by dropping a review or two! I don't mind if you wanna complain on how lazy I am -w-;**

**See you guys! Tons of love from EP and happy early Valentine!**


	14. Ch14: When We're Together

**The exam's coming in a week. I'm really glad I manage to update before it! For those who've waited for so looong, thank you for the wait! After scraping and thinking over the plot several times, here I present you the latest chapter. It sounds rather depressing in the beginning but it'll get much better later! (Btw at first I was about to write some cliché title: _Save me, My Romeo!_ but I glad I changed my mind XD)**

**For those who had reviewed but didn't get any reply from me up until now, I'm really sorry! I lost count on whom I've replied to and whom I haven't ^^;**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis. Hey, have you watched the new ova? ^o^**

**Bad English, typos and some lyrics at the end of story.**

* * *

**Ch14: When We're Together**

He tossed around in bed for the zillionth times. He couldn't sleep, but he didn't want to get up either. The shocking news he got yesterday made him didn't want to do anything. He just only wanted to forget everything. He gazed at the ceiling. It was supposed to be white but it was dark grey now because of the lack of light in his room. The light was turned off ever since he had entered the room and the sunshine was blocked by thick curtains on the windows.

He heard someone knocked at the door.

"Hikaru-jichan, let's have lunch together." His nephew Mitsuhiko said from the other side of the door.

Zaizen didn't reply. He turned around so that his back was now facing the door.

_Just leave me alone._

"Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten since last night. Grandma says you need to eat something or else you'll get sick," Mitsuhiko said again. "Hikaru-jichan…"

After five minutes, the little boy gave up and left.

"Where's your uncle?" Zaizen could hear his mother questioned Mitsuhiko downstairs.

It was the fifth attempts his family had made to get him leave his room. First it had been his mother that had tried to wake him up because he had been late for the school. His brother Akira had tried to get into the room but it had been locked. Then Azusa had come to ask whether he had been sick or not. Lastly it was his father who had come and scolded but then the old man had given up because Zaizen was too stubborn to listen.

No one in the family knew what was wrong with him. The last time they had saw him had been when he had got home from the school the day before and walked straight to his room, shine then he hadn't left his room. They knew that something was wrong with him but didn't have any idea what it was. They were also worried that he had been sick. What if something happened with him when they couldn't get into his room?

His family cared about him so much and Zaizen knew it the best. But for the time being, he only wanted to be alone. Was it wrong? Well, actually it was because he did it _the wrong way_, but he was being stubborn and selfish for once and isolated himself.

They actually didn't need to worry because he was physically fit thanked to the amount of sport he did every day. The problem was with his heart and mind. He couldn't get rid of a certain thought… a certain event in his life when she had said that she had been going away… That they wouldn't have met again…

He really wouldn't have minded if she had rejected him, if she had said that their relationship had been impossible…

But to have her suddenly disappear from his life…

The pain was unbearable.

His phone that he had been kept beside his pillow rang. At first he wanted to ignore it, but it rang again and again to the point that his favorite ringtone had become so annoying.

He sighed and picked it up.

"Zaizen~ finally you answer." A cheery voice was heard from the other end of the line. He knew the best whose it was and regretted that he had answered the call.

"What?" He deadpanned.

"Well, you showed up neither at practice nor during the class so that I decided to give you a call." Kenya said matter-of-factly. "What's up? Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine. Just didn't feel like going to school." He didn't feel like talking to the senior either.

"What's wrong with you then? It's rare for you to skip school."

'Nosy.' Zaizen rolled his eyes.

"It's because Yamato, isn't it?" his heart suddenly ached when he heard Tsubaki's name. "You looked ever since you talked to her. AH! Don't tell me she rejected you?"

"…I'm hanging up." He said coldly.

"WAIT! Wait, Zaizen I'm joking! Sorry!" He could hear Kenya pleaded faintly when he put away the phone from his ear. He sighed as he decided to give the senior another chance, while mentally noted that he would really hang up if this guy talked another nonsense.

"Sorry about that." He was slightly stunned by the sudden change of voice. It was now Shiraishi who talked to him. The _saner_ captain most likely decided to take over the phone before Kenya did something stupid that could make himself killed. (Well, actually Shiraishi wasn't sane either, but he was_ sometimes _better than Kenya, at least not as annoying as that idiot blonde.)

"He's worried about you for real though," Shiraishi began. "So are the rest of us."

"Well, thanks." Zaizen replied monotonously.

"Are you really okay?" Shiraishi asked in concern. "I don't want to sound pushy, but you can talk to any of us if you have problem. That's of course, if you're really willing to."

"…" Zaizen didn't know what to reply. He did appreciate his team's effort but on the other hand he still reluctant to tell them his problem because he thought they might not completely understand what was going on if he didn't tell them about Tsubaki's family. He had promised to her that he would have never told anyone about her brother's secret.

"I know you're thinking that we might not be able to understand you, but I hope we can help even though just a little." He was surprised when he heard it. It was as if Shiraishi could read his mind. "Were're friends, right?"

_Friends?_ The corner of his lips slightly curved upward.

"Thanks, senpai."

"Anytime."

He looked at his phone as they ended the call. Friends were supposed to help each other. It sounded really cliché but he admitted that it was true. Just like his friends wanted to help him, he also had wanted to help Tsubaki realized her little dreams. That was why he felt guiltily as he knew that he might have been the reason why she moved out.

Was she happy by everything he had done?

Was she angry to him because he had been such a nosy?

What did she think about him? What did she feel? He had never had a chance to confirm them.

_I know you're thinking that we might not be able to understand you, but I hope we can help even though just a little._

He felt the same. Was there anything left that he could do for her?

* * *

Tsubaki sighed as she gazed at the large window next to her. A lot of people passed outside the train but she couldn't see any familiar face. She and Tsubasa were leaving today but no one sent her. Well, that was obvious as she hadn't told nobody but Zaizen and the teachers that she was moving out. She hadn't even told him that she was departing today. Well, she couldn't have. She couldn't have said anything after she had seen his expression at that time. He had been shocked. He had been hurt.

"I'm sorry." She repeated that words again and again, even though she knew that it wouldn't ever get to him.

Just when she had thought that she could have been lived like a normal girl beside him, she was dragged back to the reality.

Her mother didn't allow her to date any boy yet. She thought it was too early for her. She thought it would bring bad influence to her. And Tsubaki was powerless against her mother's will. She knew that her mother did this for her sake. Her mother was worried about her wellbeing and she appreciated it. That was why obeying her was the best for her.

Still, how high she thought about her family, there was a part of her that didn't want to accept her mother decision. A part of her that contemplated whether it was really the best for her.

"Finally. I've always thought that big city wasn't a good place to stay from the very beginning," her mother's voice broke Tsubaki's chain of thought. "This time your father and I will be more careful."

"How about a place near our hometown. That way we can go home more frequently." Tsubasa suggested. Unlike Tsubaki, he didn't look sad at all even though he also got separated from his friends. She wondered why he managed to do so. Didn't he feel sad at all? Or was he only pretending in front of their mother?

Suddenly there were loud banging sounds on the window. This caught her attention. She turned around and was really surprised to find Zaizen there.

"How?" Tsubasa gasped as he saw his classmate right outside their compartment.

"Tsubaki-san!" Her mother tried to stop Tsubaki as she got up but she was too late and she had ran to see him.

At the time she arrived at the nearest exit door, he had been waiting outside. "Why are you here?" was the first thing that escaped from her lips. "How do you-"

"I asked your teacher," he explained, panting. "Thanks God I'm not late."

Had he run all the way to the station? She wondered. Why would he do such a thing? After all the cruel things she had done to him.

"So you're… here to send me off?" She asked hesitantly.

"No." His answer puzzled her. He then took a deep breath then continued. "Do you really need to go?"

She bit her lower lips. "I do," she tried to be as firm as she could. "It is my parents will so I-" Her explanation was cut when he asked another question.

"Do you really _want_ to go?" The question caught her off guard.

"I… I…" Of course she didn't want to go. She really wanted to stay, but it was against her mother's will. There was nothing she could do. No matter how sad it was to part with her friends and her life here. No matter how painful it was to leave him.

There was really nothing she could do, wasn't it?

"If you don't want to then don't go." Why could he be so sure? He didn't even understand about her and her family's situation at all. He was raised differently from her. His family never restrained him. He could do anything he wanted. He never had big responsibility on his shoulders to the point that he had to give up his own desire and dreams.

"You might be thinking that I don't understand anything," his voice was really calm and his eyes never left hers. "Well, maybe I really don't understand, but I'll try to. That's why; you can tell me what you _actually_ want."

At that time, the bell suddenly rang. It was a sign that the train she board was about to depart and the door will be closed shortly after the ringing ended.

"Why? Why would you do to such an extent?" She asked. Her weak, trembling voice was barely heard among the crowd.

He smiled and replied with a rhetoric question. "Aren't we friends?" He then offered her a hand. "Well?"

Right before the door was closed; she jumped off the train. Fearing that she would lose her balance, he caught her in his arms. They unintentionally hugged. He quickly realized and was about to let her go when, instead of shoving him away, she clutched at his shirt and sobbing on his chest. He knew he had forced her to make a difficult decision. He could tell it by how fast her heart beat.

She thought she must have gone crazy. It was the first time in her life she opposed her mother. Her mother must be really mad right now. But somehow…as she felt his warmth, as his hand gently patted her head, she felt that everything would be okay.

_Like this, just the way we are right now. If you are by my side whatever hardship may occur I can win over it.  
When we're together everything becomes alright, painful memories disappear.  
When we're together I get happy again, without knowing, I put on a smile._

* * *

**The song is entitled "Together", sung by Jiyeon (T-ara) and JB (not Bieber, mind you). It's one of the sound tracks of Dream High 2. It is in Korean and the lyrics above are the translation with some changes here and there so that it doesn't really look like a copy-pasted lyrics. Anyway, I recommend the song!**

**As I've said before, the exam's coming. Wish me luck and leave a review. I think I can update faster once the holiday starts :D**


	15. Ch15: Runaway Marriage

**Well... Hi? *scratches cheek and grins sheepishly*For those who've forgotten... This is EP, just with different penname now.**

**I'm really grateful that dear readers still read this particular story. I'm so sorry for ditching you all. I hope this chapter can make up my faults X( **

**Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis and its characters belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei. I only own the OCs and fic's plot.**

**My English hadn't improved at all so... expect typos and errors.**

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**Ch15: Runaway Marriage**

Tsubaki thought she must have gone crazy. No, she must be crazy now.

She had disobeyed her mother and the older lady must be deadly mad right now. She would surely take a detour once she arrived at the first station. She would run after her. She would do anything to find her.

And what would happen once her mother found her? Tsubaki was way too afraid to even think about it... as the thought itself was enough to make her drenched in cold sweat.

Lost in her deep thought, she didn't take much attention on her surrounding and failed to notice that the person in front of her had stopped. She bumped into him.

"Ouch!" She yelped. She instinctively looked up to find what, or to be precise:_ who_ she had just run into. Her eyes met a pair of dark green orbs; they were sharp yet tender.

They belonged to Zaizen... the person who had driven her into a crazy decision of leaving her family behind.

"Wh- What happens? Why did you suddenly stop?" she asked, slightly bewildered, to the guy who was supposed to lead their way out of the station.

He looked at her for a while in silence before answering. "Your hand... it's so cold."

She looked at her hand, which was held by his warm one. She blushed as she realized that they had been walking hand-in-hand. She pulled her hand out of embarrassment (in many ways), but, instead of letting her go, he tightened his grip onto her. Her cheeks turned three shades redder when he did so and she dared not to face him. They were holding hands in public. People would think that they were couple even though in reality they were just friends.

Yes, just _friends_. He had stated it clearly, and it wasn't a lie.

For her... he was really a precious friend; a friend who listened to her, a friend who understood her, a friend who would do anything for her. It was the first time she met someone like him and she was sure she would never find someone like him again. His presence was just like a gift from God.

But why did she feel slightly disappointed by that _friend_ word?

She closed her eyes and slightly shook her head. No, it was not the right time to think about it. For now she should focus on the problem before her.

Her mother, her family...

"It's okay." he suddenly said. "Everything's gonna be alright."

It was as if he could read her thought again and it made her felt like crying. She looked up with teary eyes and once again their eyes met. His eyes were still as gentle as ever. They were the ones. They were the eyes that could penetrate through her mask and saw her real self.

He was the one who understood her the best.

Was it a sin if she wanted to be with him?

* * *

"Where are we going?" She asked as soon as they reached the station's exit.

"You'll see..." He replied, but not really answering the question. He seemed a little cheerful and it was kinda strange to see him like that, remembering he was _the_ Zaizen Hikaru. It looked like he had a plan in mind. She knew he would never up to no good, but... She couldn't help but feeling curious on this boy's strange behavior.

Nevertheless she followed him. They exited the station from the South gate, then crossed the street, then... they arrived.

They stood in front of a shop. She curiously looked at the signboard which was decorated with many colorful LED lights and read: KARAOKE.

"Karaoke?"

Out of all place, why karaoke? She had thought they would go to somewhere far, far away, where her mother could not find her, but why did bring her to a karaoke, which located right in front of the station?

"Zaizen-kun, I don't understand. Why here?" She demanded for an explanation, but he just smirked in reply and dragged her inside without saying anything.

An employee opened the door and greeted them with a businessman's smile. "Second floor, room #14." he said to Zaizen. Zaizen nodded to him then walked toward the stair, while still dragging her. There was a slight confusion reflected on the employee's face when he saw this, but it disappeared right away and replaced with a smile. "Hope you enjoy your time here."

Zaizen led their way to the second floor. It seemed like he was really familiar with this place, which made her even more curious. They walked along the corridors, passed several rooms and finally arrived in front of a door with _14_ on it.

"Here we are." He announced nonchalantly.

She could vaguely hear people's singing and laughing from the other side of the door. Who were there? What was going on? Why were they here on the first place? Unspoken questions started piling up.

He raised his empty hand (the other was still holding her hand) and grabbed the doorknob. He stole a glance at her and smiled in amusement at her puzzled look. He slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

"Oh, here they are!"

They were greeted by familiar voice.

She lost her words when she saw the occupants of the room. She was stunned to see the entire tennis team regulars were there. She was even more surprised when she saw her captain, Sanae, was there as well. The strangest part was that none of them looked surprised by her appearance. It was as if they had been expecting her. She turned to Zaizen, silently asking what was going on there, but he just smiled (again). He pushed her into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Zaizen you're so slow!" Kenya exclaimed, which, as usual, ignored by the said junior. The blackhead just casually walked past him and sat down on an empty coach. He took one of the song binders on the table then leaned back while flipping through the pages.

"Hey!" Kenya said in annoyance. He wanted to complain on the junior's rudeness, but got cut by Kintarou's loud voice.

"EEEH! Why do I only get 76?" The first year whined. Apparently he had just finished singing and got a not-so good score. "Why? Why?"

"It's because you sang _a little_ too enthusiastically." Shiraishi explained.

"Eh? Why? Wasn't it a good thing?"

"Until a certain degree, it should have been."

Kintarou's brows furrowed as he didn't get what his captain was saying. "One more time then! This time I will get more than 90!"

"No," Shiraishi firmly said. "You've sang for three times in a row."

"Buuut!"

"No buts."

"Stingy!" Kintarou pouted as he handed over the mic to Chitose.

The tanned guy patted the sulking boy's head as he stood up. "96 points." He announced confidently.

"What's that?" Tsubaki, the only one who didn't know about Saiki Kanpatsu asked.

"Well... That's... " Kouki scratched her cheek as she didn't know how to explain about the God-ly like tennis skill. She then took a song binder and asked Tsubaki another question in order to change the topic. "What do you want to sing, Yamato-san?"

"Eh? Um..." This time it was Tsubaki who was at a loss of words. "I don't know..." She said sheepishly.

"Let me help you choose a song then." Kouki said cheerily as she flipped the binder and read through the list. "I know! What about AKB48's songs? We can sing it together. Hayakashi-san should join us as well."

"I rather pass," Sanae refused flatly.

"Eh? Why?" Kouki whined.

"Their songs are just... not so me." The kendo club captain sighed.

"Me neither." Tsubaki said. "I'd rather listen to the others sing."

"But it'll be more fun if you sing as well." Kouki tried to persuade. "And it's ok if you don't want to sing AKB. There're plenty of songs here. I'm sure you'll find one that suits your liking."

"But..." Tsubaki looked down and played with her nails. "I don't really know what to do. It's... It's my first time going to karaoke." Her cheeks turned slightly rose-colored because of the embarrassment. What a countrified high school girl she was! They must find it was really strange that a girl on their age had never visited a karaoke before.

Kouki and Sanae looked at each other. Tsubaki thought they would laugh at her, but she was wrong. They only smiled and their smile wasn't the mocking one. It was more like an understanding one.

"Oh, in that case, just ask us if there's anything you don't understand. I've visited this place several times so at least I can help you operate the machine and input your song of choice."

Sanae nodded in agreement. She then took the song binder from Kouki and flipped through the pages. "For the song how about..."

"Oh, so that's why you suddenly asked us to go to the Karaoke. That's sooo thoughtful of you." Kenya grinned ear-to-ear. Finally he got a chance to tease his beloved kouhai, who had been doing nothing but listening to the girls' talk and smiled quietly. Zaizen's soft expression disappeared as he turned to Kenya and glared, which only made the blonde grin even wider. "You're welcome~" He said cheerily.

Zaizen just sighed instead of denying. He knew it was pointless to argue with this senior of him. Besides, Kenya was right. She was the reason why he had asked his teammates to gather at that place. He glanced at the girls for a while before turned back to Kenya. "Why's that kendo club captain here?" He asked. He didn't remember he had asked them to bring her along.

"Well," Kenya shrugged. "She came to the tennis club and was looking for you. She said she wanted to ask you something regarding Yamato, and since we were going to meet both of you, we decided to take her here with us," he paused for a while before continuing. "Well, actually Kouki did... Anyhoo, it's good to see you back to yourself."

Zaizen blinked several time before his lips eventually formed a thin smile. "Thanks, senpai."

Kenya smiled back at him. He then went on a more serious matter."We heard from Hayakashi that Yamato was supposed to move out today. Is that true?"

"Well, yes..." Zaizen nodded slightly.

"Then why is she still here?" Kenya raised a brow. He looked at Tsubaki then at Zaizen then at Tsubaki again. He kept on looking forth and back before finally concluded. "Don't tell me you..?"

"That's just so sweeeeeet! You're just like a runaway marriage couple!"

It was Koharu who suddenly joined the discussion.

"I'm so jelly! Actually I've always dream on becoming Hikaru's bride. But, but... If it's for Hikaru's happiness... " The bespectacled ga-, uh, guy took out a pink handkerchief and wiped his eyes as if he had been crying.

"Wait! Why Hikaru's? Why not mine?" Yuuji grabbed his lover's shoulders and shook him.

"I'm sorry Yuu-kun. To be honest I actually have had a crush on Hikaru since the first time I saw him." Koharu sobbed.

"Wha- That's impossible! You... You cheated on me?"

And so the soap opera went on. Zaizen could only facepalm, while restraining the urge to vomit.

* * *

Time passed so quickly. After karaoke the group went to a nearby Wac Donalds and had a dinner. They chatted and laughed. It was really fun. From Koharu's and Yuuji's live comedy show to Kintarou's cute reaction on Shiraishi's _poison hand, _and from Chitose's random prediction to Koishikawa's sulking because his friends often forgot about him. Everyone was really friendly toward Tsubaki and she laughed with them as if they had been old friends.

It was so fun... to the point that she even forgot her family issue.

Nevertheless, the clock was ticking and their time was eventually up. It was already eight in the evening and they must go home.

Home... She couldn't possibly go home. She was too scared to go back to the place she referred as _home_. She was too afraid to meet her family.

But where should he go now? She only had a little money with her and it would be inappropriate for her to stay over at Zaizen's house. No matter what circumstance they were in, no matter what excuse she had... Even thought they were friends, even if his family would willingly accept her... She was a girl and he was a boy and that was that.

"Yamato-san's staying at my place, right?" Kouki's voice broke her chain of thought.

Tsubaki was confused with the sudden question. She glanced at Zaizen, asking for guidance. The younger boy slightly nodded at her and smiled. So Zaizen had even prepared a place for her to stay tonight... Such a kind and thoughtful fellow he was.

"Mm, yes." Tsubaki quickly replied to the long haired girl.

"Alright." Kouki clapped her hands. She then turned to Sanae. "Do you want to stay at my place as well, Hayakashi-san?"

Sanae was caught off guard by the question. "Eh? But I..."

"Come on, the night is still young. We still have a lot of things to talk about, right?" Kouki winked.

As if Sanae understood what Kouki meant by that wink, she quickly made up her mind. "I guess it's okay... staying at your place, I mean. Tomorrow is Saturday after all."

"Should I send you home?" Shiraishi offered.

"Nn." Kouki shook her head. "It'll be okay by the three of us."

"Okay then." Shiraishi patted his girlfriend on the head. "Be careful, k?"

"So hot here..." Kenya referred to the couple while fanning himself. He then nudged Zaizen. "Why don't you do the same to your _girlfriend_ over there?"

"Oh, shut up." Zaizen groaned. Nevertheless, he involuntary glanced at the said girl and their gazes accidentally met. He touched his nape. Thinking what would be good to say.

"Good night."

That was apparently the best thing that he could come up. After all he didn't want to sound cheesy like Shiraishi, or sickeningly lovey-dovey like Yuuji and Koharu.

"Good night too, Hikaru-kun." Tsubaki smiled at him, which made him blush slightly.

"Oh, oh~ She said_ Hikaru_, didn't she?" They boys whispered_ loudly_ behind his back.

"I wonder if our ears are deceiving us~"

"Man, it's really _hot_ here~"

The night was still young... And Zaizen was sure it would be a long one.

* * *

Such a looooong night.

Zaizen sighed as he finally arrived in front of his house. Those senpais, they had kept pestering him with questions for more than an hour. Couldn't they mind their own business? He sighed again.

Still, those idiotic seniors had helped him and Tsubaki today and he was really grateful for that.

He quietly opened the front door. It was almost 10 o'clock so Azusa and Mitsuhiko must have been in bed by now. That was what he thought... but he was wrong.

Azusa was the one who greeted him as soon as he went inside.

"Hikaru!" Azusa exclaimed when she saw her brother-in-law. "Where have you been?"

It was strange to see her that hasty about his coming home late. It wasn't the first time he went home at this hour after all.

"You've got a guest, and she's been here for hours." She said.

Oh, that explained everything, he thought. But why did this guest willingly to wait for him until this late? He didn't remember he had made any appointment with any girl. He even doubted there was any classmate who was close enough to him to the point she would come to his house. Curious, he went to the living room where that person had been waiting so _patiently._

He widened his eyes in surprised when he saw her... or to be precise:_ him_.

"Yamato?"

It was the younger Yamato, Yamato Tsubasa.

* * *

**Finally Zaizen's and Tsubasa's confrontation! Why do I like cliffhangers so much ^^;**

**Thank you for your time reading. Please review! I'd love to hear your opinion on this particular chapter. As usual, concrits are always welcome. You might also rant about what a terrible author I am. I'll take anything so please speak to me once again!**

**Next: Zaizen and Tsubasa are going to rip each other neck! Uh, kidding ^^a But at least there will be something happen between them. Also, a pajama party at Kouki's place :3**


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